Glow Marketing goes viral in Mompreneur Magazine
The Mompreneur Magazine July 2008 Edition
The following is an article published in the July issue of Mompreneur Magazine by Sharole Lawrence, President of Glow Marketing. And no, that’s not me on the cover…
The Power of Viral Marketing
Did you “Elf Yourself” last Christmas? If you did, you experienced the power of viral marketing that brought 193 million visits to the Elf Yourself Office Max website. Did you sit in amazement at the Dove “Evolution” video that has received over 6.7 million views on YouTube? Viral marketing is the concept of creating something that is compelling and can easily be passed along to friends and colleagues. It can be an e-mail, a photo, a video, an e-card, even a text message.
The more compelling something is, and the easier it is to share, the more viral it becomes. The Elf Yourself website was compelling because it was personalized, letting you upload your own photos and record a voice message. Plus, it was really, really funny.
So how does this apply to us, Momprenuers without million dollar marketing budgets? The good news is, anyone with a great idea can create viral marketing. The bad news is, not everyone can come up with great ideas so you might need some help. YouTube videos are a great place to start. They’re inexpensive to create if you have your own camera and you can probably edit yourself.
There are 2 main elements that seem to lead to “virability”: Extremely funny and highly topical at the moment. When I say extreme, I mean extreme. It needs to be over the top funny in order to stand out. Get your craziest friends together and brainstorm ideas that almost scare you. Craft your one key message and make sure the viewer is left with that message, even if it’s just a call to action to visit your website.
An example of being topical would be the best damn blender I have ever seen, pulverizing an iPhone into dust on YouTube. This of course was created and posted right when iPhones were released in the states. I could not help but think how clever it was and…what an amazing blender it was! iPhones are coming to Canada later this year, perhaps there is a way to tie in your company viral video with this craze that is sure to have people talking.
On a serious note, if your product or service is safety or health related, you might want to take a different tact, using the video as educational, but emotive enough to compel people to pass it along. I saw a great video demonstrating a swimming technique that can be taught to toddlers, to help them if they ever fell into water when no one was looking. I won’t get into the details, it was hard to watch but compelled me to share it with other Moms because it was an amazing demonstration video that showed how to prevent drowning.
Like all marketing, viral marketing is a gamble. There is no guarantee that it will work, so you need to make sure it is not the only marketing you do. Very large companies that use viral marketing often create dozens of versions and then see which ones take off. There is little to lose in viral marketing because if no one watches, nothing is lost. So try it, take risks and have fun. You may be surprised how far your marketing efforts can go.
Sharole Lawrence, President of Glow Marketing
Sharole is President of Glow Marketing, Western Canada’s leading consultancy specializing in marketing to Moms.
Mompreneuer Magazine, July 2008 edition
1 comment July 21st, 2008
