Seth Godin, by way of Micah, points us to an article about Jupiter's new report about viral marketing, "Viral Campaigns Falling Short, Says JupiterResearch." The article states, "JupiterResearch...found that only 15% of viral campaigns in the past year achieved the goal of prompting consumers to promote the marketer's message."
But here's the thing: isn't viral marketing supposed to be about the product? I mean, if you like the product, or not, you tell people about it. The campaign is secondary. I have to agree with Seth here:
Excuse me... the most effective technique is making stuff worth talking
about in the first place. True viral marketing happens not when the
marketer plans for it or targets bloggers or skateboarders or pirates
with goatees, but when the item/service/event is worth talking about.
Here is a true example of viral marketing. I have a friend who uses a credit union in New York. She lives in Florida. It's extremely inconvenient for her to go there, but she LOVES their service. In fact she raves about it. She loves them so much she sent out the following email to her list of friends with no prompting from the credit union, and it wasn't part of a "viral marketing campaing." Here is her email in full (I've removed any personally identifying information):
Hey, gang,
As most of you know, I've been an insanely happy member of the same NYC credit union for about ten years. Well, the Entertainment Industries Federal Credit Union just opened up their membership to the general public (it used to be employee-only), and I wanted to pass that info on to everyone I possibly could. While they aren't the flashiest (as you'll see from their website), they truly take care of their customers. If you are even vaguely dissatisfied with your bank, you should check them out.
This is a Manhattan bank that knows my name when I call from Florida. We're talking small-town hi-[name]-how-is-the-new-car-working-out kind of conversations, while they approve loans, consolidate my debt, and work with me on mortgage information. And, trust me, I'm one of those customers who can't add, doesn't understand decimals and asks the same damn question over and over. They never make me feel like an idiot...I LOVE THIS CREDIT UNION!
The only downside I found when I lived in NYC was that they only have one location, Madison and 55th, but since most of my banking is electronic anyway, I never thought that was a huge problem...So, visit the website - www.eifcu.org - or call Joe Reyes at 212.833.5533 to get membership info. And feel free to pass this on to your friends. It's really nice to know the name of the person handling your money.
And, yeah, I'm kind of nuts about them!
Technorati Tags: viral marketing, word of mouth
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