Viral marketing is one of the commonly used marketing techniques that help many companies to dominate the market and to gain bigger market share. Using this strategy in your work from home online business can help to grow your business much more quickly.
As an example, by leveraging the power of viral marketing, Hotmail increased its subscriber base multifold in just a matter of years and virtually dominated the market of free email service at that time.
Several years ago, Hotmail was just like any other company giving away free web-based email accounts. They implemented a viral marketing strategy in their business by adding a short advertisement about their free email service at the bottom of each email that was sent out through their service.
When the friends of those first Hotmail subscribers received email from them, they would then click through the link at the end of the email to get their own Hotmail account as well, and the viral effects had begun. The number of subscribers started to increase exponentially when each new wave of subscribers used the service, helping to bring in even more new subscribers, and this viral effect went on and on.
As you can see, viral marketing has the potential and power to help any business to reach thousands or even millions of people with little effort in a very short amount of time.
Dr. Ralph Wilson, an e-commerce consultant, pointed out a few of the key elements that make viral marketing a success. While there is no need to include all these key elements in order to have a successful viral marketing campaign, the more you can integrate into your business, the more effective it will be.
1. The simplest form of viral marketing is to give free products away. The word “free” has a mystic power that can lure people into taking certain action, especially if they can get the product or service for no cost to them. When you give away the product for free, you attract the people who would not typically purchase your product in the first place; however, if they like your product, they might become customers if the product delivers what it promised.
2. The medium that the viral marketing campaign utilizes to spread the message is another critical factor that will determine the success of your viral marketing. The more convenient it is for the message to be spread, the more people the message will reach. The best platform which provides a simple means to connect people from all over the world is the internet.
3. A successful viral marketing campaign can bring you a spike of traffic to your business in a short period of time, and it is crucial that you have your business ready to handle it. Having a website that gets so bogged down with traffic that it’s not functional will do more harm than good. Check with your webhost to ensure they have the capability to handle the additional traffic.
4. Understand human behavior and capitalize on it. The dissemination of a popular product or piece of information can make someone very popular, which will inspire some people to want to take part in it.
5. Expand your network by incorporating other’s networks into yours. Most people have a “circle of influence” of approximately 8 to 12 people. By getting others to include their circle of friends and family in your campaign, you can grow your business exponentially in a very short period of time.
When you become proficient in integrating viral marketing into your work from home online business, you can grow your customer base and business in a very short period of time.