I believe an effective viral campaign means a campaign that brings results. Clear results which you can measure. Do you know any other way to tell whether your campaign was successful or not?
At first, you have to decide what are you after. In business, our job is to earn profit. Profit comes from sales. I think making sales is the only way to justify spending money to advertising campaigns. It doesn't matter whether it's print advertising or viral marketing, you need sales. Here are three examples how to create viral marketing campaigns that sell.
1. Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty
Video: Dove - Evolution
This campaign was started in 2004 and it has produced 500 million dollars of extra sales for Dove until May 2009, according to Brian Fetherstonhaugh, an Ogilvy executive, which is the agency behind the campaign. The campaign is still performing well today.
2. Blendtec: Will it Blend?
Video: Will it Blend? - iPhone
This simple campaign allowed Blendtec to sell blenders for higher profit margin than its competitors. They are charging 300 to 500 dollars per blender. You can get a powerful blender from a supermarket for as little as 50 dollars.
3. Burger king: Whopper Sacrifice
"Sacrifice 10 Facebook friends and get a free Whopper" This campaign lasted only one week after its launch, when Facebook forced Burger King to end it. It was breaking Facebook's legal terms. In other words, Facebook didn't like too see people ending their virtual "friendships". However, numbers are impressive: 230 000 friends were sacrificed, that means Burger King handed out 23 000 free whoppers for its fans.
Stay tuned for the part two of How to Create an Effective Viral Marketing Campaign. Subscribe to my blog via email or RSS to get it first. It's free.
In the part 2, you are going to find out why a million viewers doesn't guarantee success, why those three campaigns where successful, what makes people share your content, and most of all what makes people to buy the product you are trying to promote virally.
Until next time...
Click here to read the second part
You may also find these free articles interesting
- How to Create an Effective Viral Marketing Campaign: part 2/2
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- At last - A New Way to Use Social Media for Marketing
- 5 Keys to Online Marketing Success
- Why Digital Agencies Are Not Ready to Lead
- A Free 14-page Guide to Digital Marketing that gets Results
