Vishal Vivek / 6 Mins Read
Updated: May 8, 2023
The notion of viral marketing has spellbound the time of modern marketers for around 10 years now. Viral Marketing is a process of creating buzzwords or marketing pieces that are attention-seeking and indelible in our modern, always-connected world.
Launch of a new product can be nerve-wracking and an exciting experience, both at the same time.
The sole purpose of creating a product, is to sell it, right? And to do so you must market it. Here, the biggest challenge is to know how to do it. Because, according to the Marketing Research Association, only 40% of developed products make their way to the market. And, from there, only 60% will turn a profit.
With such figures there is only a slim chance of success. However, a well-organized product launch strategy could make the difference between success and failure in the market.
Buyers are given new touchpoints every day to evaluate your products, that include ads, websites, email, messages, phone apps, recommended reviews through videos (high impact product reviews on video platforms like YouTube) etc.
Meanwhile, a traditional but successful product launch strategy focuses on the customer experience - price, quality, function, and availability. But these are not enough in this fast paced era. You need to think out of the box to capture the market and boost your sales.
Here are the top 5 effective viral marketing techniques to shoot your new product straight to the stars:
You can kickstart your campaign with a group of influencers. This viral marketing technique is the perfect recipe to ensure that your content will be widely diffused.
There are millions of influencers on various Social Media platforms recording their daily activities, travel experiences, DIYS, reviews and they easily boast of millions of followers. Because of their already established reputation, Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) from an influencer is undoubtedly the most valuable.
According to a survey:
● About 40% (that’s quite a lot) of consumers say they’ve purchased products after seeing it being used by an influencer on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc.
● About 49% (whoa, that’s a big number) of people say they rely on reviews and recommendations from influencers when making purchase decisions.
You can also create a hype by restricting easy access to your much-awaited product. The influencer you are working with can share an access or extend an invite to know more about your product. This way there is an excitement and curiosity around the product.
There is a very interesting case study on how a smartphone brand managed to dominate the market in a very short time span. This brand has been endowed with the title of being the “new king of smartphones”. The buzz around OnePlus is still increasing at an unparalleled rate.
The concept of an invite-only smartphone directed humongous traffic to their website, reaching 25+ million visits in a month, just after a year of the web portal launch.
OnePlus’ aggressive marketing strategy kickstarted with an invite-only marketing strategy. There were influencers who could grant access to their community which became the driving force in creating the craze behind the phone.
The makers are targeting towards basic human nature of “always wanting what we can’t have”. This adds to the phone’s appeal as a “premium product” for only a “select” group of people.
You can hit the jackpot with this marketing strategy. Because referrals are like gold, if you strategize and execute correctly, it can completely transform your business.
Referral marketing is distinctly a powerful way to grow your business.
These statistics define the power of referral viral marketing strategy:
The simple truth is that people are much more likely to trust other people, before they trust a company.
Many brands have leveraged this marketing technique to spiral their growth. DropBox is one such admired example. Dropbox began a referral campaign by offering free 500MB space for both the referred and person who is referring. This method worked wonders for them and an increase in signups up to sixty percent were noted.
However not many people know that their successful referral program was inspired by PayPal’s $60m Referral Program.
Referrals helped PayPal get 7 to 10% daily growth, propelling their user base to over 100 million member. PayPal began to pay people to invite their friends.
Uber’s success story through referral deserves a top place in this viral marketing technique. With its millions of users around the world, Uber has one of the best growth stories.
No serious product launch can become a success without affiliate support. Affiliates actually generate the majority of sales and profits, for several products. The idea of planning an affiliate program is a masterstroke.
Because, as a brand you’re providing the product, promotional materials and content, and your affiliates have to take care of bringing people through the door.
This viral marketing technique works well, because you need to pay your affiliate partner after the lead conversion. This means that only once the sale is closed the affiliate will get paid, this saves you from paying in advance.
John Chow is the superstar of the affiliate marketing world. In just a couple of years, he was able to boost his blogging income from nothing to $40,000/month. You can read his advice and tips if you want to supercharge your affiliate marketing.
Another very good example of an affiliate marketer is TripAdvisor. It makes choosing the right travel brands a lot easier, and they don’t charge you a penny to do it. They partner with some of the biggest travel companies in the world.
Most people don’t even know that they are an affiliate, since they are such a trusted company. However, they get paid generously by travel companies for each lead and sale, due to their high lead quality.
Partnerships or co-branding is a viral marketing strategy where two brands come together to form a bond that is beneficial for both parties. Here the success of both the brands are interrelated. The success of one partner will lead to growth for the other partner too.
This marketing strategy can become an effective means to build business, boost brand awareness, and break into new markets seamlessly. And without an ounce of doubt, partnerships flourish when it is a win-win for both parties.
Starbucks and Spotify collaborated to create a “music ecosystem”. Starbucks successfully scaled up the finest coffee shop experience into a colossal global brand. They used music to create an ambience around coffee.
On the other hand, Spotify, a music streaming brand, has recorded almost 25 billion hours of listening around the globe. Both these niche leaders forged an innovative partnership. This partnership offered artists better access to Starbucks consumers and in return Starbucks leverages access of Spotify’s expansive music.
Kanye West shook hands with Adidas to fuel a partnership viral marketing campaign – Yeezy. The amalgamation of Kanye’s (best known for his Grammy-winning rap albums) personal brand with Adidas’ growing streetwear segment has witnessed good company earnings along with brand growth since it was introduced.
A pre-launch campaign plays an important role on how consumers will perceive your product, even before they lay their hands on it.
The easiest way to ensure that this viral marketing campaign creates a buzz is to start a conversation online with your targeted prospective consumers. All this before the launch of your product. Ideally, this could start months before the actual launch.
From releasing a teaser to building anticipation through content on social media platforms, the pre-launch needs equal importance as the actual promotion phase.
Pre-launch Promotion can include:
The best example here can be Tesla’s strategy of never sharing complete spoilers. Just giving the audience enough to want more.
Also, good hashtags can do wonders for your upcoming product launch.
For instance, how Lay’s came up with their #DoUsAFlavor hashtag campaign, was just brilliant. They involved their audience by letting them vote for their favorite flavor on social media through this strategy.
This viral hashtag marketing strategy proved highly beneficial for the pre-launch of the new flavor, once it was chosen.
Launching a new product without knowing how to market it can be a disastrous decision.
Only you can decide what is best for your product launch. With an effective way to conceptualize, strategize, design, implement and execute a well-defined plan, there is no way you can fail.
You may be disheartened if your viral campaign does not reach as per your expected targets. But your targets must be realistic with well qualified under MoS (measure of success) parameters.
When a viral marketing campaign is executed well, they can give you 10X growth on new product launches. Businesses can certainly skyrocket, all you need is a well devised incentive plan, product with a wow factor and fail proof viral marketing strategy
You can use these well thought of viral marketing techniques to hit the bulls eye every time you have a new product to launch.
We would love to hear from you the most interesting innovative ways that you may have come across in recent times.
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Vishal Vivek's story is out of a movie script. Took responsibility for a big family at the young age of 16. Despite insurmountably hard circumstances started SEO Corporation at the age of 24. Scaled it up across three continents and then using all his resources to curb plastic poll Hemp Foundation, the idea most dear to his heart. Times Group recognized him as a legendary entrepreneur and published his biography in "I Did IT" at the age of just 30!
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