A lot of words have been used to
describe viral marketing, even though the name itself implies it all. Think
about a virus for a moment, how it seeks out then inhabits other systems around
the body. Now imagine that virus in a positive way, seeking out and inhabiting
many places on the Internet.
There are essentially two forms of viral marketing in broad operation around the
online world. They are known individually as "Cross Promotion" and
"Co-Marketing." They differ in their goals, but perform the same viral task,
that of identifying common markets and trading information to attract attention
from each other's assets. This may seem to contradict common business practice;
for example, one wouldn't expect to find McDonald's displaying ads at Burger
King. The Internet is different.
Cross Promotion
Cross promotion means finding other businesses like yours and trading
information. Your first step is to identify those sites that exhibit a definite
similarity with what you do. For example, if you have a site about regional
travel opportunities, you would seek out other index sites, as well as specific
travel outlets, such as motels, transportation businesses, tour guides,
restaurants, etc. Find professional looking sites that you find appealing and
interesting.
Now that you have a list of sites, and you've collected contact information
about those sites, you're ready to set your marketing virus loose. Try to
individualize each message, and email each of your contacts by expressing
enthusiasm about the market you wish to share. Generate some excitement!
What you are looking for is the ability to exchange information in the form of
website placements and email offers. Don't limit yourself to swapping banners or
newsletter ads. You want to take things a little further. If you own a mailing
list, suggest a dedicated, solo swap, where their subscribers learn all about
you, and yours about them. Offer articles for publishing on a topic of interest
if your partner site is publishing content. On a website, you're looking for
"integration" and not "advertising." Get into the site's navigation system, for
example. Supply content in the form of articles for resource pages.
If you have the ability, you can actually template such pages into the look and
feel of the other site, then send them an email with a URL to view the page. In
our example above, you could have articles about the various towns in your
regional travel site, and have specific target sites, like motels, take your
page for inclusion on their own site. They can either use your code, or just
link to your page, which is wrapped in their template.
Alternatively, you might have a search function at your site, which you could
offer as a service to other sites, free of charge. This invitation then adds a
functionality to the other site and generates interest in you as the supplier.
All website owners are looking for good content, as well as enhancing their
sites' functionality. If you can use your site to help them, you both win and
the virus grows. The point is to be innovative, and to see how your ideas can
benefit the site you with which you want to cross promote.
Co-Marketing
Co-marketing differs from cross promotion in what is being traded. In cross
promotion, the emphasis is on information to attract visitors. Co-marketing
attempts to further the trade by exchanging information aimed at generating
revenue.
To continue with our example, a basis for co-marketing could exist between a
motel owner and you through referral compensation from your site for locating a
new customer. This could be achieved with online coupons, or even an ecommerce
reservation system. Or it could work as a custom affiliate program where your
clicks are traceable to sales at the other site.
As the above scenario suggests, another difference between co-marketing and
cross promotion is that co-marketing information does not necessarily have to be
displayed by both parties. That's not to say it can't work both ways. Let's say
you sell search engine submissions. You could sell your service through a site
that sells domain names. Both markets are identical � webmasters. But you are
selling totally different products. Now you can sell domain names, and your
partner can sell search submission services. By co-marketing, you not only
expand your reach, you have the ability to expand your inventory as well.
The really fantastic thing about co-marketing online is the low cost of
integration. In the brick and mortar world, you're looking at packaging,
shipping, stocking, and retail costs. On the Web, even if you don't know how,
you can find somebody who can make the electronic integration take place at a
tiny fraction of what it would cost to reach the same audience in the physical
marketplace.
Summary
Viral marketing efforts, no matter how small, will always increase your visitors
over time. Giving careful consideration to your first tasks of identifying and
contacting those that share your online market will substantially enforce the
vigor of the virus.
As you form more alliances with other website and list owners, the virus
spreads. What's even better, as you grow, so does the number of people that will
try to virally market with you, and your inbox will collect pleas to do exactly
what you did with your original contacts.
