I’ve seen quite a few tweets, posts and discussion lately about the use of social media, viral marketing and the like.  Here is an excerpt from my book “42 Rules of Marketing” - what do you think?  What about Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and other social media sites.  Agree?  Disagree?

Rule 23:  Viral Marketing is a Tactic In terms of demand generation – viral marketing is a fascinating topic.  There was an article in the Wall Street Journal  that talked about the changing face of marketing, and how the internet and viral elements have changed the nature of marketing forever.  The Journal is right.

Viral marketing is a relative to search engine marketing, blogs and email marketing.  It is really just an online version of good old-fashioned “word of mouth.”  The major difference, of course, is that it now takes seconds for an idea to spread versus days, weeks or months using the traditional “she tells two friends, and so on, and so on” method made famous by Breck shampoo commercials. The objective of viral marketing is to seed your idea or message with key influencers in an online community with the hope that they will have good things to say about your product, service, company, etc.  And you hope that they will spread the good news for you, like a virus.

A few years ago we were using the internet to push info to customers and were enabling customers to find information about our products/services by publishing our info on the web – we thought this was a huge change.  We didn’t have a clue what was coming. Today – customers are publishing their own information about our products/services. User-generated content, social networking and online communities have turned everything inside-out.  You are no longer in control of the messages.  You can start the ball rolling, but once it’s out there and customers begin to talk about you, it becomes a matter of influence not control. Targeting influencers who will (hopefully) comment positively on your product or service is an age-old strategy.  Blogs, email, chat rooms and online communities it faster, and allow it to grow bigger due to the reach of the internet.

The reason viral marketing works is based on human emotion.  The things that typically take off are either tragically sad or hilariously funny. During the holiday selling season in 2006, a cute little site called “Go Elf Yourself”  appeared.  You could “elf yourself” by uploading a photo (of yourself or an unsuspecting friend or colleague), recording a short message and showing off with a funny little elf dance. The site was the brainchild of Office Max and was created as part of a multi-phased viral campaign that ended in January 2007 with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal. Office Depot apologized for their little game causing such a significant drop in productivity and invited businesses everywhere to come to Office Depot and stock up on productivity items.  As far as results go, in mid-December 2006 the site was averaging 200 unique visitors per second; people were creating 8 new elves per second.  That’s a lot of elfs.

The elfs certainly didn’t change the world.  But the idea behind the it certainly could.

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Social media has taken on a life of its own.  Without it, us marketers can’t really do our jobs it seems. I have clients who run LinkedIn and FaceBook campaigns and then Twitter about them to drive traffic. It is a time consuming and often cumbersome process.  Yes, it’s viral.  Yes, it drives traffic. And now, I can do this for multiple clients at one time and not feel schizophrenic.

I just found Ping.FM.  I usually don’t recommend platforms but I really like this one.  It lets you update all your social media sites from one platform.  You can push your tweets, updates and photos all at the same time.  I’m loving it.

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To be more precise, the Harvard Business Review stated that “The rationale that a company can afford a cutback in advertising because everybody else is cutting back [is fallacious].”  And history bears this out.  In past recessionary cycles (1970, 1974-75, 1981-82, 1990-91) research has shown that companies who continued to invest in marketing their companies products and services fared much better than those who didn’t.  Duh?!?!

We know that marketing works, that’s why we do it.  When you stop marketing, for whatever reason, it will stop working.  However it is really hard to keep shelling out cash on marketing programs, advertising and email campaigns when sales are slow and revenue is down.  But here’s the thing;  if you stop investing and “hold tight” until things blow over, customers will easily forget about you.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a large corporate selling to other large corporations, or if you’re a start-up selling to consumer online.  Out of sight means out of mind.

“Marketing” doesn’t have to cost a fortune.  The rise of social media, online communities and social networking, marketing online is one of the most cost effective vehicles around today.  Social media marketing is a specific tactic that is effective and inexpensive.  You need to check on all your target social media sites, post to blogs, comment, respond, twitter, friend and link like there’s no tomorrow.  Chrus Muccio, recently ran a promotional campaign via social media and his book “42 Rules to 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn” is now a Best Seller on Amazon.com.  Social media marketing works…for authors, small companies and large corporations.

The other upside to social media marketing in difficult times is that it is fun.  It’s great to meet new people who share your same interests - either personally or professionally.  It’s nice to be able to support other businesses;  to find others interested in what you do.  Plus, when things turn around your network is now that much bigger.

Now get out there and start tweeting, linking, friending…or whatever.

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They are some of the most talked about stories in social media last week.  The top story was obviously the economy.  According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, these were the hot topics in the blogosphere.

The takeaway here…you never know what’s going to catch on or when.  It’s all about hitting a nerve or riding a wave with something that is relevant but unexpected.

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What we now call “word of mouth” marketing is known by non-marketers as “I’ll ask a friend who their mechanic is”. By any name, WOM (yes, it has its own acronym) has been around for centuries…heck, mabe even millennium. But I’ll tell you something, whatever you call it, it is alive and well.

We’re spending a week in Belize with my in-laws for a family vacation. We’re having a wonderful time. Our guide has recommended several amazing spots. The Blue Water Restaurant had great food, was decently priced and (best of all) had a swimming pool the kids could play in. Did he know the waiters? Of course. Was our service super? Of course. Did we care that there might be some kind of a quid pro quo? Absolutely not. Everyone benefited from this form of word of mouth.

Take this in a business context. If you have a great experience with a company’s product or service, and you recommend that product or service to a friend, does your friend care if you get a “refer a friend” discount? Not if they also have a great experience. The biggest challenge for business is to make sure the experience is worth recommending, it is consistent, and that your happiest customers have a way to recommend you.

There is a new company offering a great service for companies looking to enable their customer to do just this. Zuberance has a great platform for turning your customers into an authentic word of mouth sales force. Check them out. And be sure to tell them I sent you…

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A new year is upon us. This one is full of significant economic challenges (in case you haven’t heard.) I asked several of my clients what they thought the impact of the recession would be on their business. I was surprised, yet encouraged, by what I heard. Here are a few of the responses:

“I expect this year to be harder, of course. But it means we have to really focus and not be so random in our marketing activities. It is going to be about focus and integration for us.” (mid-sized consumer products company)

“We are just finishing our budget for 2009 and I was surprised to see that we didn’t cut our marketing expenses as much as I would have expected. We had a moderate cut based on programs that didn’t work last year. But the rest of it is going ahead as planned.” (Fortune 50 company)

“Recession is going to be a difficult challenge for a start-up. We have to clearly communicate our value so that customers give us a try.” (high-tech start-up)

Based on these and other comments…I am hopeful that companies are seeing the value of marketing, and that marketing value is the key to success. So as you approach 2009, think about how you can communicate the value of your company, your product, or yourself for that matter.

Happy New Year!

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Check out our webcast on “Customers To The Talking”. We were invited to participate in an online seminar hosted by BrightTalk about Conversational Marketing. There were tons of attendees and lots of interesting questions. Check out our 42 Rules channel on BrightTalk and, let us know what you think. After all, it’s all about the conversation.

Customer Do The Talking

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If you’ve ever wondered why 42….check this out: The Answer

Yes, it’s rather random, but that’s what makes it interesting. Some people get it immediately. Some people get it eventually. And some people, well…

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This is great advice. I just wish more of us paid attention to it. With the economy in such a shambles, many of my clients are looking to boost their sales, and cut costs in order to keep the doors open. Unfortunately, many of them are looking at how they can improve what they are already doing rather than looking for new things to do.

As an example, as the holidays approach, we start thinking of appropriate gifts for customers, partners, colleagues, etc. In times past these were the lovely Harry & David gift baskets, or bottle of Dom Perignon, I even once received a personalized iPOD with a whole music library on it. Today, donations to charities or non-profits may seem more fitting, maybe a personalized CD, or gee…how about an old-fashioned, hand -written card?

Look for opportunities to get back to basics, to do the right things really well, to keep focused on the customer. Ask yourself, “Why do we do it this way?” “Could we do it another way and make it simpler, better or faster?”

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For those of you who aren’t blessed with daughters between the ages of 8-12, you might not have noticed the High School Music (HSM) mania that has gripped this specific demographic and their slightly-middle-aged parents. So as not to keep you in the dark, I’ll share some of the musical marketing that Disney has pulled off with this trio of teen films.

First, the tunes are catchy…fun even. All us Moms (and even most of the Dads) hum “Breaking Free” during carpool. These are the kind of songs that get stuck in a never ending playlist in your head. By the end of the first year of HSM they had worked their way into my dreams. So Disney has our kids, and us, hooked.

Second, They connected the dots like you wouldn’t believe. Co-marketing run amok, is what I say. Merchandising, TV, radio, magazines, meals, you name it and HSM stuck its brand on it. Usually this type of over exposure leads to an “I’m over it” reaction. Not this time. The collective “we” can’t get enough of Troy and Gabriella.

Third, speaking of Tory and Gabriella….they are the “Sandy and Danny” of this generation. HSM is to these kids like “Grease” was to my generation. Except that the marketing types are much more sophisticated and there are many more opportunities to expand the franchise today.

Finally, Disney went back to basics and gave people fun, enjoyable entertainment that everyone can relate to. Yes, it’s a bit “polly-anna” but with all the other !@#$% going on in the world a good old-fashioned, don’t-kiss-with-your-mouth-open movie really hits the spot.

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