Five Top Reasons Why Blogging is the New Kid on the Internet Marketing Block
February 29, 2008
Blogging really took off in late 90s. It used to be a forum for voicing one’s opinion on a given topic, but has evolved into masses of opinions on just about anything under the sun. As it continues to evolve, online advertising has entered the blog arena. Here are 5 top reasons why you should consider blogging as a serious IM tool.
1.Blogging is simple. If you have a PC and an Internet connection then its easy for the average Jane to start within minutes, and advertise products, ideas or websites !
2. Blogging has a more ‘authentic’ feel to it. In many blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, untouched by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is increasingly being used by web shoppers as an authentic source of information before pressing the ‘pay here now‘ button.
3. Blogging is mostly free. Because blogging is not yet a mainstream online advertising media, most sites still offer it for free. Anything free is definitely a bonus to start up businesses. Ofcourse, paid blog pages generate more income for your growing business.
4. Blogging builds your credibility. As you get more and more into writing about your experience on a particular product or theme, your readers come to depend on your posts for advise. As you become an ‘expert’ more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your posts. As companies and professionals notice your growing readership, they may soon contact you for advertising on your blog, or offer you an affiliate ship, which is excellent, either way.
5. Blogging gradually ‘builds’ your market. Unless your face is well known on magazine stands, I’ll bet that only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends too, so may be you’ll end up with a hundred after all ! But give poor Mom a break and consider the following :
-Use your e-mail. Invite people to explore your site by posting a short e-mail message to contacts or forums as teasers to your blog. If your e-mail is on a totally different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.
-Use subscription. An easy way to get your readers’ e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blog. Keep some exclusive goodies for your subscribers to entice them give away their e-mail addresses. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address too : the last thing you want is being accused of spamming !
-Use RSS. RSS is the fastest growing Internet technology today. RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readers. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site, apart from constantly advertise ‘you’.
Blog your way to success !
The ‘Contagious’ Act of Viral marketing
February 19, 2008
Don’t we all know about the power of the spoken word, or in Web marketing , the power of the clicking finger ? Statistics reveal that generally, when a customer is satisfied with a brand or product, she shares it with three people, while if it is a bad shopping trip it gets relayed by comparison to eleven ! This is a stereotypical human behavior upon which the principles of viral marketing evolved. It is technique used to market a product or brand using pre existing marketing or social networks. Viral marketing depends on the ‘generosity’ people to pass on the ‘good word’ – the downside of course is the eleven wagging tongues setting off a negative reaction, as we discussed !
Companies which try viral marketing should first of all spot people who have a high social networking potential in the niche they intend to approach. Then there is the question of capability – they must be competent to create quality viral messages to appeal to the people who come in contact with their social network. Through this marketing technique the words about relatively unique product can spread rapidly through the online community (examples from the past included Napster and Google itself in its earliest days) but you’ve got to sell the right product. Quite often, it comes as self replicating ads in the form of flash games, flash ads, funny videos or pictures. Anything to counter the brief attention spans of the modern Homo Sapien we expressed our concern about in an earlier article!
The term ‘Viral marketing’ was first coined by a Harvard University Professor Jeffrey F. Rayport in 1996, later popularized by Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson of the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1997. Media critics first started writing about viral marketing in 1994. The fiendish plot is devastatingly simple : any user who sees these viral marketing ads will in theory become ‘susceptible’ , thereby getting ‘infected‘ and will be driven to buy the product or sign up an account to access more data about it.
Then this infection spreads through them to other users, it gradually turns into an epidemic – at least in theory. Most viral marketing strategies these days give away free products or services ( very few click on flash ads these days declaring ‘You’re the millionth vistor on our site and you’ve just won a Porsche’) ! Using the word ‘free’ is the key – as is the virus being passed through you.
There are other variations such as the Guile viral strategy which entices customers to try and sell products by forwarding mail from which they personally earn commissions. Examples of this type of viral marketing are Amway, Beenz etc. The other form of viral marketing is the Vital strategy where the users are encouraged to share their experiences with their friends on forums and bulletin boards, among other things, often about specified products. Check out the eBay, AOL, ICQ forums to see what I mean !
How The Houston Museum of Natural Science used Viral marketing
January 13, 2008
The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) was one chosen to showcase the world-famous Exhibition for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. HMNS quickly realized that while the exhibit was expected to generate a great deal of interest, it didn’t have a lot of appeal for their core audience. The success of the exhibition, therefore, would rest in how it was marketed.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science quickly called in Spur Digital to help reach the targeted demographic audience and generate interest in the Exhibit. HMNS was, also, hoping to acquire new patrons and members to further their future revenue.
Spur digital worked with HMNS to identify the target market for the campaign and developed an integrated online media plan to reach those audiences. The campaign featured an online contest that was marketed through targeted online media outlets including relevant Web sites, Search Engines and third party E-mail lists. Viral marketing was an important component of the campaign, so Spur developed an innovative strategy to get people to refer their friends.
Spur identified the target audience as males 18 to 34 years old who were fans of action and fantasy films, frequent video game players and movie renters, tech-savvy who generally didn’t hang out at museums. Based on this information, Spur chose search engine advertisements that would accompany specific search words, dedicated e-mail advertisements, sponsored e-mail advertisements, banner ads on web sites targeted toward the desired audience, and e-mails to the HMNS list.
Did it work? You bet! The results were excellent. The impact of the viral marketing effort was astounding - over 23% of registrants came originated from the Tell-A-Friend feature. The direct marketing efforts yielded impressive results as well. In total, the 12 week, locally-targeted online campaign yielded more than 2 million targeted impressions, 40,000 unique visits, almost 12,000 and 6,000 invitations sent by friends at a cost per action of less than $3.00. These contributed to the record attendance of almost 100,000 over 3 months
E-mail Viral Marketing-How & why it works
January 7, 2008
What does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands and then to millions.
Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they’re easy to transmit. Viral e-mail marketing works great on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. Remember the K.I.S.S. standard….Keep it Simple Stupid. The shorter and easier to remember is always better than long and complicated.
Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. The desire to be cool and greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages.
Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.
If you can design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, you have a winner.
