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There are several proven methods
that work well, provided there is
value in the offering.
Those include:
WINNING A PRIZE
So long as we’re talking true value
and not a tee-shirt or novelty item,
setting up a giveaway, competition
or sweepstakes always generates
excitement. Especially if you can
arrange some type of ongoing or
interactive event such as lotteries,
or if some portion of the proceeds
is being given to charity events
that are near to your focus group’s
hearts.
One viral campaign that was reasonably
successful dealt with a “ticket” to
win a new motorcycle being given away
with every $100 worth of purchases
from a store. Additional chances were
sold for $1 a chance directly to the
public in addition to the campaign.
Flyers and e-mail notices for this
event were spread so far and traveled
so well, that a yearly giveaway has
been done every since. Business for
that company has increased tremendously.
Had the grand prize been just a jacket
or a set of gloves, the response would
likely have not been nearly as favorable.
The prize value has to be something that
really generates excitement and makes
the users want to take a risk or chance
to get involved, even if all it involves
is mentioning the campaign to others.
For good quality viral campaigns, a
clever way of setting up such incentives
would be to have contestants enter the
e-mail addresses of people they think
would be interested into your website
database. Then, give them an additional
entry for every such e-mail that is
entered that is valid, (i.e. deliverable)
to ensure your winner has not been
defrauding you.
INFORM THEM
Perhaps an even easier way to provide a
value and promote the sharing of gifts
is implementing a viral marketing
campaign that relies upon you giving away
information that your users need or can
use. Whether that is a health newsletter,
interviews with the stars, tips and
techniques for maintaining their
motorcycles, taking photographers, or
the best places to camp in the Pacific
Northwest doesn’t matter.
You just need to provide information that
is useful and pertinent in a form that is
easily distributable and includes your
advertisements in ways that they cannot
be easily stripped out.
On your webpage having “E-mail this page”
buttons that format and send the
information including your links and
content are good ways to take advantage
of this type of viral marketing. Sharing
content with other sites, so long as your
links and information are retained, is
another way to start the ball rolling.
There is a lot of value in site traffic
both in advertising revenue and in being
able to direct and attract attention to
items you personally may have for sale.
So why not take advantage of such easy
to implement methods of driving traffic
your way?
FREE TRIALS
A similar and very effective way to drive
interest in products is to allow a
stripped-down or time-out version of the
product to be utilized in advance. Just
be careful that you make very clear any
limitations or problems that may occur
such as an MP3 encoder that strips off
the last 3 seconds of the song before
allowing the trial. Nothing will sabotage
your efforts so much as allowing a user
to cost themselves time or money by not
understanding how they should use the
product. It is YOU they will blame, and
that type of excitement is not what we’re
trying to generate here!
PLAY A GAME
If you have a service or interactive
site of some kind, allow free access or
“trials” on the site. This is how sites
like photo-share and U-Tube generate
interest. For free you can join and play,
and then once you become interested and
want to take advantage of more that the
sight has to offer, you have the option
of buying into the site’s more advanced
features.
This can be a very good way to drive
interest and to create a good viral
marketing campaign. Interactive sites
often have downloads and forwarding
of graphics or free e-mail all of which
you can add your taglines to.
This captures the attention of the
friends which your trial user is
interacting with and anyone to whom
they forward your information or
photos to as well!
Use all our Viral marketing Techniques
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