Jan 6, 2010

How to Create an Effective Viral Marketing Campaign: part 2/2

Today, you learn why millions of viewers doesn't guarantee success to your viral campaign, why those previous three examples worked – and increased sales. What makes an effective viral marketing campaign, and how to do it. You may want to review the previous article before you read further. 1. A clear objective All three campaigns had a clear objective that they were aiming for. First, let's look at Dove.
  • Campaign for Real beauty positioned Dove as the brand for real people, not for super models.
  • The videos supported their new position. They weren't made just because viral marketing was a cool thing to do in 2004.
  • It wasn't a random coincidence to talk about "what is beautiful?", but a part of the much larger global marketing plan from Unilever.
  • If you visit Dove.com you see how serious the people at Unilever took this campaign, which is still running successfully.
  • Dove used dramatization very effectively to communicate what Dove is all about – every one can be beautiful. And it worked. Their sales are growing as you read this.
2. Make the product the hero This makes me smile to see how simple effective advertising can be. "Make the product the hero of your advertising" is such an old idea that you and I weren't even born when it was first introduced. An excellent example of this technique is Blendtec's "Will it Blend?" videos.
  • The product is clearly the hero.
  • The videos communicates the product's benefit to the viewer, a Blendtec blender is stronger than an average blender.
  • Blendec uses humor and dramatization to tell you in a second what is going.
  • Destroying a new iPhone guarantees attention. It hurts to watch, but it works. What blender can blend anything?
3. Make it easy and worth sharing The third case was Whopper Sacrifice campaign. "Sacrifice 10 Facebook friends and get a free Whopper". It doesn't get much simpler than that. However, there was something else which is worth studying closer.
  • Leverage social networks. The campaign was created for Facebook. The Burger King application to sacrifice friends was easy to install and use. Having a separate website where you name your unnecessary friends may not have worked.
  • Burger King broke the rules. When Facebook closed the application because of the violation, it guaranteed the attention of media.
  • It was fun, different and worth talking about.
  • It offered a reward. 10 friends = 1 Whopper.
All three examples are advertising in its purest form. Here are 11 key takeaways 1. Have a goal 2. Be clear 3. Simpler is better 4. Demonstrate your benefit 4. Dramatize 5. Call for action 6. Make the product the hero 7. Provoke 8. Reward 9. Use credible people 10. Make it easy and worth sharing 11. Test. By now, you may be wondering where did I wrote the part about "Why a million viewers doesn't guarantee your viral success". If this is okay with you, I would like tell you about it in an exclusive article next time. To make it better, that article includes also a million dollar lesson from raging Canadians who were going to attack America...

Lastly -- if you want to know what really works in online marketing, check out this new book. This crazy guy is handing out FREE copies right now. Click here to get yours, before they're all gone ... Hurry!

Written by Timo Jäppinen
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