The Viral Virus
I read an article today which reminded me of one of my greatest Marketing Peeves of the era. Viral Marketing. That’s not to say that I have so many Marketing Peeves that I forget them sometimes and need to be reminded of them, but rather that I have been meaning to talk about it and simply have chosen not to.
I’m 100% positive you have at least heard the phrase Viral Marketing at least once in your life. Maybe about 25% certain that you know what it actually is. Viral Marketing, to be brief, is the tactic that Marketeers use to generate buzz via word-of-mouth-esque methods. Nowadays, this refers specifically to the intarwub. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of the bigger name viral runs, like the oft-referred Subservient Chicken. Here, I’ll break it down further. You know what marketing is, so I won’t get into that, but let us now dissect the word “viral”. It means that it will spread out amongst the masses on its own; you don’t have to do anything to get it going besides just putting it out there. Such things include viral videos, which often act as a sort of gateway into Viral Marketing. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? How about the video of the water buffalo, crocodile, lion combat titled The Battle at Kruger?
That’s viral. People liked it, showed it to other people, who showed it to other people. Tada! Just like the disease viruses!
Okay. Now you know what Viral Marketing is. Here’s the problem: it doesn’t really have any return. Granted, the investment may be small, but you’re not getting anything in return besides maybe some laughs and bragging rights to how many hits you received. The claim is that you increase awareness and therefore increase sales, but, let’s be honest: there’s no correlation between the epidemic and the profit, which I suppose is where the similarities between viruses and marketing ends. Most deadly viral epidemics successfully kill, but marketing does not. Or maybe we just haven’t been trying hard enough.
So next time you hear your manager say “Hm, we should get on board this viral marketing thing”, laugh internally because a.) they most likely have no idea what it is, and b.) it does not really have any direct correlation to success regarding sales numbers as of yet. Now, this isn’t definite. It could change in the future where Viral Marketing ends up being a fantastic thing.
But please: for now, stop looking for Viral Marketing experts. There is no such beast. It’s really luck of the draw.
Oh. Here’s the article. Viral Marketing
