Viral marketing
Viral marketing represents a feature of marketing, which gives the chance for the businesses to reach the intended customers with their marketing messages. The need by the business owners to find a productive way of marketing their products to the potential consumers, have led to the investigation of the effect of viral marketing (Fox, 2009). This have arose because of the rising demand of people in the market with the rising alternatives existing in the market. The consumers will only go for the product accompanied by high quality viral content. Analyzing the effect of viral marketing in the today’s market involves assessing the cost and the return on investment (ROI) associated with the phenomena. The cost related to the viral marketing is in two categories; the cost of developing the content an the cost of seeding the viral. Another arising cost may accrue from special offers. The people in the market will only favor the top quality and effectively seeded viral content thereby this forms the basis for the cost relate to viral marketing. Seeding forms the main aspect for the cost related to viral marketing with some of the sites charging at least £5,000 (Daniasa et al, 2010). This always occurs when the viral marketing campaign would like to feature in the home page of the video sites. Some of the well-known brands even end up spending at least £100000 during their viral marketing campaigns (Daniasa et al, 2010). The agencies for the viral marketing will charge the cost depending on the activities they would have to involve in before ensuring that the viral marketing is mature. Some of the activities, which call for the costs, include developing the viral, seeding in various places, and tracking the results. However, the campaigners can reduce the cost if the customers have databases where they can send the viral ad. This reduces the cost through the reduction for the need of extensive seeding. Without the databases, it will force the marketing campaigners to rely on the independent blogs, video sites, micro-sites and online newsletter (Fox, 2009).
Considering the deliverables associated with the viral marketing, the return on investment (ROI) is always high for people who use the method effectively. For instance, Hotmail spent a mere $50,000 on traditional marketing and still grew from zero to 12 million users in 18 months (Lescovec et al, 2007). This shows that even though the market campaigners tend to use investment in the viral marketing, the result is always positive to their production process. The positive ROI arises because of the different results that come when using the method. The marketing campaigners realized an increase in the customer list because of the many customers who get to know about the products. With proper seeding, the campaigners have the assurance that most of the potential customers will access the ad. The marketing campaigners also get to enjoy a remarkable growth over a proportionately less time because of the virus like characteristics. The marketing always grow at a geometric progressive rate thereby increasing the sales and the subsequent profits. The campaigners will always expect for more clicks and conversation. The use of viral marketing also allows the campaigners to gain visibility leading to the recommendation and sharing of their products. Consequently, this will increase the ROI of the campaigners. The viral marketing also helps in reducing on the promotional cost; consequently, complementing on the ROI (Fox, 2009).
Cost of seeding related to viral marketing may tend to be much on those wishing to campaign through this method. Seeding subject campaigners to about £5,000 or it may even reach at least £100000. However this always have a high ROI on the campaigners depending on the marketing they are seeding, as they tend to reach more potential customers who associate to buying. The number of the customers increases at a geometric rate for instance that of Hotmail grew from zero to 12 million users in 18 months. This means that viral marketing have a bright future as many of the institution owners will be seeking for the services to increase their profits. It acts as the future to advertising.
References
Leskovec, J., Adamic, L. & Huberman, A. (2007). The Dynamics of Viral Marketing. ACM Transactions on the Web.
Fox, S.C. 2009. E- riches2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making. Millions Online
Daniasa, C. I., Tomita, V., Stuparu, D., & Stanciu, M. (2010). The mechanisms of the influence of viral marketing in social media. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 5(3), 278-282. http://search.proquest.com.pluma.sjfc.edu/docview/815240043?accountid=27700
