When word of mouth turns to word of mouse

On December 16, 1998 Iconocast gave the award for Internet marketing buzzword of the year to the term 'viral marketing', but what does it really mean? The concept itself was by no means new, businesses world-wide from the smallest corner shop to the biggest multinational had long relied on and benefited from it. Basically it isn't much different from word of mouth; for example someone buys your product, if they like it, they tell their friends how good it is. Then the friends go and buy the same product and like it and tell their friends and so on and so forth until you have reached a huge market without spending a single penny on advertising.

What is remarkable about 'viral marketing' though is the degree to which using the Internet has accelerated this process. A prime example of this, and one which is often cited as the first viral marketing campaign, is the huge growth of the free email provider Hotmail.

Hotmail was originally launched in 1996 and it grew faster than any other company in the history of the world. Within the first eighteen months of its launch it had already signed up over 12 million subscribers and continues to gain more than 100,000 subscribers every day.

So how is it done?
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant wrote in Web Marketing Today, Issue 70, February 1, 2000, that there were 6 key elements to a successful viral marketing campaign:

1. You give away some form of free product or service
This may not seem like a very sound business practice as there is no immediate profit in giving something away for free, but viral marketing campaigns rely on patience. By giving something away for free you attract customers and once you have them using your product you have the opportunity to sell them other desirable things, not to mention the possibilities you have for generating revenue through advertising.

2. You provide for the effortless spread of your message
Your message will only spread if it is easy to transmit. This is where the Internet has been so successful. Communication is cheap and can be as simple as a single mouse click. Hotmail for example spread their message "Get your private, free email" by ensuring that this message was automatically copied into the bottom of every email sent through their mail server.

3. You are able to scale the campaign from small to large very rapidly
If your campaign is to be successful you must ensure that you can meet rapidly growing demand for you product or service. If demand exceeds your ability to supply then instead of growing it, your viral campaign will start to kill your business.

4. You identify and exploit common motivations and behaviours
Most people are driven by a desire to be loved or popular or even financially better off. These desires are part of what generates the huge amount of Internet communication each day. A successful viral marketing campaign will be able to build on these common motivations in some way.

5. You encourage people to spread the word among their existing networks
Most people have on average a network of some 10 to 12 close friends or family who they are in regular communication with. Added to this they often have a wider network of associates and casual or work contacts of tens perhaps even hundreds or thousands. A campaign that taps into this wider network will soon bring huge rewards.

6. You take advantage of others' resources
Some of the most successful campaigns try to position messages on other peoples programs. If they can put links on other people's websites or supply content to others which carries their message then they will soon find that other people are doing their marketing for them.

Viral marketing campaigns can achieve great success using all or only one or two of these key elements.

Does it work for everyone?
Sadly there are also some down sides to viral marketing. Not every product is going to be marketable through this method. It is best suited to low cost products that can easily be delivered and which are usually bought on impulse. An advertising campaign for something like a car is likely to be less successful as most people give a lot of thought and consideration to this form of purchase as it involves parting with large sums of money.

Recent figures also suggest that 50% of all email communications will soon be unwanted and largely unsolicited SPAM messages. With the growing tendency of viral marketing campaigners to offer financial incentives to those who are willing to pass their message on, there seems to be an ever growing possibility that what advertisers consider to be legitimate marketing will, to the unwilling consumer, soon start to seem like just more SPAM.

So will this be the death of viral marketing?
Well most experts seem to think not, but what is likely to happen is that we as consumers are likely to become more careful about what we click on and that advertisers will have to become more creative in their design of such campaigns. One other result of this might be that we find out how many email address books contain our address and how many real friends we have.

Vocabulary

5 words/phrases from the text:

1. launch: to initiate a scheme
2. give away: to give something free of charge
3. spread: to distribute something over an area
4. tap into: to use a resource that exists
5. pass on: to tell somebody something that has been told to you

Exercise one.

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the 5 words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

1. This week the supermarket are .............. free yogurts when you spend five pound or more
2. The company organised a party to ....... their new perfume
3. Please ........... my best wishes to Fred when you see him
4. News of the president's visit ........... quickly and soon the place was full of photographers
5. If we .................... our students' musical talent we can probably find the next Rolling Stones

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Exercise two.

Comprehension. Answer the 5 questions using information from the article.

1. Why is it good for companies to offer free gifts?
2. How did Hotmail spread its message?
3. Why are links useful for viral marketing?
4. Which are the best products to market in this way?
5. What do the experts think will be the future of viral marketing?
   

Grammar.

Relative clauses -Non-defining relative clauses

Relative clauses add extra information to a sentence by defining a noun. They are usually divided into two types - defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses.

Non-defining relative clauses

Look at this sentence.

My grandfather, who is 87, goes swimming every day.

‘who is 87' is a non-defining relative clause. It adds extra information to the sentence. If we take the clause out of the sentence, the sentence still has the same meaning.

Look at some more examples.

The film, which stars Tom Carter, is released on Friday.
My eldest son, whose work takes him all over the world, is in Hong Kong at the moment.
The car, which can reach speeds of over 300km/ph, costs over $500,000.

Non-defining relative clauses add extra information to sentences.

Defining or non-defining?

Remember that defining relative clauses are used to add important information. The sentence would have a different meaning without the defining relative clause.

I'm going to wear the skirt that I bought in London. The defining relative clause tells us which skirt.
The skirt, which is a lovely dark blue colour, only cost £10. The non-defining relative clause doesn't tell us which skirt - it gives us more information about the skirt.

Non-defining relative clauses can use most relative pronouns (which, whose etc,) but they CAN'T use ‘that' and the relative pronoun can never be omitted.

The film, that stars Tom Carter, is released on Friday.

Non-defining relative clauses are more often used in written English than in spoken English. You can tell that a clause is non-defining because it is separated by commas at each end of the clause.

Exercise

Combine the pairs of sentences by making a non-defining relative clause.

1. Her son lives in New York. He's a dentist.
2. The Mona Lisa is in the Louvre. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
3. The building is going to be opened by the queen. It cost over £5 million.
4. Pete has a French father. His surname is Cholet.
5. The man is being questioned by the police. He can't be named for legal reasons.

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Quiz Question 32

Viral marketing - key

Vocabulary

1. giving away
2. launch
3. pass on
4. spread
5. tap into
   

Comprehension

1. It attracts customers to your business
2. They copied their message on the bottom of every email sent through their service
3. Links carry the message further
4. Low cost products that are easy to deliver
5. Consumers will be more careful and advertisers will be more creative
   

Grammar

1. Her son, who is a dentist, lives in New York. / Her son, who lives in New York, is a dentist.
2. The Mona Lisa, which was painted by Leonardo da Vinci is in the Louvre. / The Mona Lisa, which is in the Louvre, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
3. The building, which cost over £5 million, is going to be opened by the queen. / The building, which is going to be opened by the queen, cost over £5 million.
4. Pete, whose surname is Cholet, has a French father.
5. The man, who can't be named for legal reasons, is being questioned by the police. / The man, who is being questioned by the police, can't be named for legal reasons.