viral strategies

[sarahbrooks]

An increasingly important process is to design a strategy that encourages others to carry your marketing message via e-mail, using their own network of relationships -- and preferably their own resources. This is called "viral marketing" after the way viruses multiply rapidly in a cell, commandeering the cell's resources to do the virus's bidding. The classic example is HotMail.com, a free e-mail system. Each e-mail message (sent by definition to a person's own friends and associates) carries a message encouraging the recipient to sign up for a HotMail account, too. Another example is postcard or greeting cards, each of which carries a message encouraging the recipient to send a card to a friend -- carrying the siteowner's marketing message. If you can write quality articles, you can offer them to others to use on their websites or in their newsletters, each article carrying a link to your website. Public relations to get press coverage is a kind of viral strategy, if you think about it.