A Helpful Viral Marketing Definition

...and a simple one

This viral marketing definition is your best start to understand the viral in marketing. You will get a fairly short definition along with a more detailed look into its components. You can use it to your advantage when evaluating viral marketing programs. Are they really working in your and your prospects' best interest?

The goal is to give you a broader view and deeper insight into this fascinating and still evolving marketing phenomenon. Get clear insights so you can find the right viral marketing program to promote your business, product or service ...

Let's start with some basics...

• The all important definition of viral marketing.
  This is where it all starts.


• The requirements or conditions to make it work virally.
  Without them, there will be no viral effect.

You can then get more details on...

• How viral marketing works - An applied viral marketing strategy which resembles the viral marketing definition.


• Evaluating a viral marketing strategy - why and how?

The Viral Marketing Definition

Your shortest answer to "What is viral marketing?":   It's a ...

That's it? - Yep. That's all there is to it. It says it all. Let me explain it in more detail below. The components of this viral marketing definition are what you will find interesting. So, take a look at...

Viral Marketing Requirements

The message needs to generate a high pass-along rate. Too low a pass-along rate, and the campaign simply dies off. How to do that?

The message must be passed on to more than one person to achieve a high enough rate. The viral marketing definition lists three items, which will help you to accomplish this.

These three items are:

• The marketing message itself.
• Facilitate people to pass it along.
• Encourage people to pass it along.

Let me explain them to you below...

   The marketing message itself...

What would make it easier for you to pass on a message? Or what helps people to speed up passing along such a message?

It all depends on the message itself.

The message must:

• address a large enough target market
• address one or more unsatisfied needs or major problems of the people in that target market
• provide a cure or solution to solve that major need or problem

The market has a problem and the message sells the solution.

Would you pass along a message that has no value to you? Or a message which promotes a product, a service or solution to a problem you don't have? You likely wouldn't but ...

What if the promoted solution does solve your problem? Wouldn't you want to try the solution and pass this message on to others who have the same problem?

What the viral marketing definition does not tell you directly is that the marketing message itself is part of the solution. Its task is to sell the solution by telling why you have the same problem like most other people in the same market. And it offers a solution along with it. In other words ...

   Facilitate people to pass along that message

If the message sells the solution to a major problem, what does the solution itself do?

The message and the solution are 'facilitators' in that they assist you to achieve the end result - to solve your problem. Be it a much greater list of subscribers and / or more cash for other projects, you choose.

The viral marketing definition mentions to enourage people to pass along a marketing message. Now, how would you ...

   Encourage people to pass along the message

When you can solve not only your business needs with it, would you not feel encouraged to pass on the marketing message? Especially when ...

The solution has all the tools to do just that most effectively. Would you not want to pass on the message? You gain trust and more credibility when you help others using the solutions to solve their needs, too.

You will want to pass on the marketing message when you feel the benefits - the solved business needs. It's pretty similar to how network marketing works , isn't it?

Why is that? Well, there is no viral benefit to you if you don't pass on the message. You are very likely to see an increased benefit in passing it on to those who need it and ...

Incentives will also encourage you to pass on the message. And money incentives can already solve one of your main issues - cash and cash flow. So, the higher the pass-along rate, the faster your business and cash issues can be solved.

Would that not encourage you to pass the marketing message on to more than just one person?

Next:

• How viral marketing works.
• How you can evaluate a viral marketing strategy to find out whether a given viral marketing system best matches your principles for growing your business.