Viral marketing the easy way

Viral marketing is a powerful method of getting your message around. You start a self replicating mesage and launch it into cyberspace. Then it and the carriers that it "infects" does all the work for you. A viral message has two parts, first it gets the receiver to carry out some action such as subscribe to your newsletter, or buy a product. The second part of a viral message is to get the receiver to pass the message on. This is the self replicating bit, and the bit that makes viral marketing so special. Great in theory, but it doesn't always work in practice. Why do some viral marketing efforts fail to spread as their originators intend, while others thrive? Harvey Segal, an internet marketing expert, has spent some time figuring this out. He has identified that the problem lies in the self-replicating bit. Getting enough of your receiver to complete this process is the weakest link where many viral campaign fail. This is hardly rocket science...but let's look at it carefully. A popular method of viral marketing is to use rebrandable ebooks. You send out an ebook with some useful information in it. It contains some links which are of value to you, say to a product you are selling on your own account or as an affiliate. To make the book viral you encourage the recipient to REBRAND the ebook with his or her own links and send it on. This is the incentive part of process. Your need to ensure that all recipients have the tools, the skills and the incentive to pass the message on. The problem is that rebranding the book is a bit clumsy, typically you have to download and unzip a file, then run an executable file to put your own links into it. Maybe you need to sign up for a few affiliate programs and enter your ID's. None of this is especially difficut but it can be a drag, even with detailed instructions. Harvey reckons this is where you get a lot of drop outs. If you get too many your program will grow very slowly,or even just die out. As I said, none of this is rocket science, but what Harvey does to solve the problem of drop outs is very smart. Instead of all of your recipients, and their recipients, having to go through the rebranding process Harvey has set up a method of doing it on the fly. So the weakest suddenly becomes very strong. But that's not all you need. A viral program needs powerful tools to teach recipients how to distribute the message further. Not all recipients will know how to use autoresponders, opt-in lists and forums. The message has to be packaged up with the means for its own replication. Once you have set up your first viral ebook you will be full of ideas for more. Your experience will help you do it quicker and better next time around.