Herd Of Mouth

There is an I in VIRAL – Viral Marketing Strategy

I previously defined herd of mouth as adding a viral effect to word of mouth for incredible results. Herd of mouth is achieved in a viral marketing campaign through three possible methods:

                 1. Inspirational

                 2. Insane

                3. Imaginative

Let’s talk about inspirational.  We’ve all received the chain letters that tell us of some story of great hope.  It usually ends with a line similar to pass this on to 10 friends to keep the hope alive.  Some of these go viral fast and as a business it is possible to connect yourself with these. But as with most things it’s important to be ethical and genuine.  If you know of a great story to inspire people then you can send it out in this way and subtly include a little intro blurb about how you were yourself inspired by the story. It’s OK to include your business contact info in a non-invasive way. 

All that said, I DO NOT RECOMMEND this method for the majority of businesses.  It is possible and even likely you can be seen as trying to capitalize on someone’s difficult life story.  I would only recommend this to people who are already seen in their community as someone who would share this type of story.  Then it’s genuine and not out of character. Beyond that there are a few businesses that do fit this method.  If you sell mobility products for example (like motorized scooters and wheelchairs) then telling inspirational stories about the use of your products is more acceptable and really takes the form of a customer testimonial. 

Method 2 is insane.  I named this after all the loud radio spots which shout ‘Our prices are INSANE.’  Basically this an offer too good to refuse.  This runs the spectrum from Groupon’s model where 50% off is often offered to pure free giveaways.  People who take advantage of truly great offers will often pass them on to their friends afterwards.  The key is that the offer has to be genuine and not misleading.   

Insane offers can work but they can be costly and you need to decide if your business can afford it.  If you are a kid’s clothing store, can you afford to give $100 worth of merchandise away for $50 (and if you do use Groupon they may take half of that)?  If you can then sending an e-mail out to your base could trigger moms (or dads) to forward it their group of friends with children.  One effect you could see is that people will wait to forward until after they themselves secure their products.  The reason is two-fold.  First people are skeptical of any offer until they redeem it with no problems and second people are competitive and want to get their items first.   

Unfortunately there is an inherent risk with this method in that you could lose money on the offer.  This can happen several ways.  First, the service or merchandise simply costs more than you are charging.  Second, your existing customers could redeem when they would have spent full price although often customers will spend more given the discount.  Third, giving huge discounts sometimes alienates your base from paying full price in the future.  It really becomes an accounting formula difficult to forecast when you start.  Additional factors include do you get enough new customers to offset early losses? And do they come back?

Later this week I’ll explore my personal favorite viral marketing strategy, imaginative.  In the next few days I’ll add some examples to this viral marketing blog.

November 8, 2010 Posted by dave | Viral Marketing, Viral Marketing Strategy | Dave Meyer, viral marketing, viral marketing strategy | Leave a Comment