Comment: At the request of many Internet entrepreneurs, Tech2ipo will set up a special topic on Internet marketing in the near future to help entrepreneurs, especially Internet and mobile Internet entrepreneurs, urgently need to solve the problems of having technology but lacking management, and having market but lacking marketing. a big problem. This topic is only used as a starting point. I hope it can be helpful and inspiring to everyone. This time Tech2ipo excerpts Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, a well-known e-commerce consultant and Internet marketing expert, about his insights into the principles and methodologies of Internet marketing, especially viral marketing.
I admit that the term "viral marketing" is offensive. People who call themselves viral marketers can be intimidating. But I'd rather be that person. So "Do we have a vaccine against it?" Ordinary simple viruses are ill-fated and half-dead, only seen in disasters or horror movies.
But you have to worship viruses. He was so concealed that his sheer numbers were not realized until sheer numbers won him over. He parasitizes other hosts and uses the host's resources to reproduce his own offspring. In the right environment, he will grow exponentially. The virus doesn't even need to find a mate - it just replicates and grows geometrically again and again, doubling every time:
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After just a few generations, the number of viruses will explode.
Definition of viral marketing
Viral marketing means that the sponsor sends the initial information about the product to the users, and then relies on the users' spontaneous word-of-mouth promotion. It is a common and very effective method in Internet marketing. It describes an information delivery strategy, which is called viral marketing in economics, because this strategy, like a virus, uses rapid replication to spread information to thousands or millions of audiences.
Outside of the Internet, viral marketing is used to refer to "word of mouth", "creating hot spots", "integrated media" and "online marketing". But on the Internet, for better or worse, he is consistently called "viral marketing." Some people smarter than me have tried to rename him in order to tame him, but I don't think the term "viral marketing" has changed.
Classic case Hotmail.com
A classic example of viral marketing is hotmail.com, one of the first free email providers. Their strategy is simple:
1. Complimentary free email address service,
2. Add a label under each email: Get your personal free email from http://www.hotmail.com/ ,
3. When people send emails to their friends and colleagues, they have achieved their purpose and can go behind the scenes.
4. People see the news,
5. Sign up for your own free email service, then,
6. Send the message to your growing circle of friends and colleagues.
Like the microwaves generated by a pebble thrown into a river, a carefully planned viral marketing strategy spreads outward at an extremely fast speed.
Basic Principles of Viral Marketing Strategy
Accept this: There are good and bad viral marketing strategies, but few can compete with a simple Hotmail.com strategy. But here are six basic elements you may want to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy doesn't have to include all of these elements, but the more that are included, the better the results are likely to be. Effective viral marketing strategies:
1. Provide valuable products or services
2. Provide simple and convenient communication methods
3. The scope of information transmission can easily spread from small to large scale
4. Leverage shared motivations and behaviors
5. Leverage existing communication networks
6. Make use of other people’s resources
Subsequent articles will introduce these six rules in detail and look at how more domestic and foreign businesses use the Internet to carry out viral marketing.
This article is compiled from guaniu, the original address.
Translation source: Tech2ipo Please indicate the source link when reprinting.