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o you get vouchers passed to you by friends on e-mail? Have you visited WillItBlend.com, or subservientchicken.com? Then you have been involved in something that sounds a lot worse than it is viral marketing. This is the new trend that is sweeping the nations, and although no one is completely sure if it boosts sales, it boosts awareness and encourages trafc and that counts for a lot.
DOI 10.1108/02580540810897058
VOL. 24 NO. 9 2008, pp. 17-18, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0258-0543
STRATEGIC DIRECTION
PAGE 17
If you do not put the tools in place to record these customers details, you will never know if it had an effect on sales.
samples in the mail then tell others in the same demographic about their experiences. P&G rmly believe by not enforcing members to spread the word, they get more genuine feedback, and increased membership. It is a great, cheap way to get customer feedback, and you gain the contact details of hundreds of your desired consumers, which enables you to do some serious targeted marketing. 2. No acquisition without identication. Knowing that your video was watched by 4 million people tells you just that. 4 million people watched your video. But you are after long-term advocacy. If you do not put the tools in place to record these customers details, you will never know if it had an effect on sales. Did they buy anything from you? Did they recommend your products to someone? Get their details and make sure you can track whether any of these people came back and bought from you. 3. Look beyond the transactional. Viral marketing is not loyalty marketing. Your best customers are not necessarily your best marketers, and vice versa. Even if someone has not bought from you, they may have passed on the link to your online game. Your best, top spend customers might not have a great network to promote you in. Recommendation behavior is not something you can read in a balance sheet, or in demographics. The trick is not nding these people, it is keeping them do not let them watch the video then never hear from you again. 4. Connect your advocates to product development. A lot of companies are adopting this already and even if you get no good suggestions, you have people feeling like they are involved, and therefore, they are brand advocates. Sony Singstar is a good example, a karaoke game for the Playstation, whose web site allows registered members to vote for the collection of songs on the next release. You could even consider American Idol as an example, by using viewers to vote for their favorite singer, they have a vested interest and will be proud to buy the album of the act they voted for. By endearing the product (singer) to the viewers week in week out, and allowing the consumer a say in who wins, they guarantee advocates, and therefore sales. Dell Computer released DellIdeasStorm.com, which allows customers to suggest new products and improvements, and received over 200,000,000 posts in 90 days. It is free research and product development. And free marketing into the bargain. Viral marketing, buzz marketing whatever you want to call it, is certainly here and here to stay, and it seems to be working. But before you jump in with everyone else, think long and hard about what you want to achieve, who you are targeting, and how you are going to use this new gang of groupies. Keywords: Test marketing, Customer loyalty, Marketing strategy, Consumer marketing, Product development This review is of Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing by Rick Ferguson. This article is written in a very readable style, with recent examples and very little specialist jargon. It gives a great practitioner view of viral and word-of-mouth marketing, enabling the least experienced marketer to understand the terms used. Those involved with marketing strategy or product development will nd the article useful and easy to digest.
Reference
Ferguson, R. (2008), Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 179-82, ISSN 0736-3761.
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