In the b.i. days (before the internet), the success of a mom and pop
store depended, among other things, on the big boys of industry. Once
they came to town and set up shop, there was no more mom and pop. They
were driven out of business by the sheer volume of the mega companies'
advertising and capital. Not a pretty site.
The internet has gone a long way to reviving the mom and pop industry.
It affords many small businesses the opportunity to compete by using
simple cost effective techniques repeated on a continuous basis. One of
the techniques is viral marketing commonly referred to as word of
mouth.
In the old days viral marketing for small business owners had limited
appeal. Yes they could be successful in that particular city, town or
even region but it's still nothing compared to the global word of mouth
that business owners can tap into right now thanks to the internet.
Once you launch your viral marketing campaign, it requires very little
follow up on your part and even this has been taken a step further with
the emergence of Web 2.0.
Here are some new ways to get the best out of your viral marketing:
1. The Small Report.
There have been some excellent ebooks on the internet chock full of
good information but let's face it: many people are not going to read
them due to the length. Enter the small report. Putting together a five
to ten page report can be done in no time. The same goes for reading
it. We suffer from information overload in this day and age so giving
people useful information in smaller quantities makes sense.
Find a hot topic and write several articles on it. Place the articles
in a pdf file with your name and contact information branded on the
report. Tell readers they are free to distribute your report as long as
they do not alter it in any way. Then advertise your report in forums
on your website and anywhere else you can think of. People want
information fast and utilizing small reports is a good way to give them
exactly that. It's also a good start to making money from your viral
campaign.
2. Video
In 2005, Kevin McCarthy one of the pioneers of online marketing
predicted that within a year there would be an explosion of online
video. Prediction accomplished. The internet is at the dawning of the
video revolution. It is becoming easier and easier to make a video and
upload it to places like You Tube or Google Video. In fact Google
bought You Tube late last year for 1.65 billion dollars. That's a good
indicator of how things are going.
Like the small report, try to keep your video brief and to the point.
While people would rather watch than read, you still don't want to
overload them. The point of a using a viral video (like reports) for
your business is to give visitors useful information but just enough.
In the end you want them to get more information by going to your
website
3. Folksonomies
Wikipedia defines folksonomy as "a user-generated taxonomy used to
categorize and retrieve web content such as Web pages, photographs and
Web links". In plain english what they are referring to is tagging; a
way to not only retrieve information you want but more importantly to
share that information with others. Tagging is nothing more than
keywords specifically related to bookmarking social sites like Digg,
Technorati or Delicious.
As an example let's say you join Technorati. You then make a video, tag
it with the keyword phrase "funny online video" and upload it to your
account. Now all individuals within the Technorati community will be
able to access your video when they type in that particular keyword.
This is very powerful. Tag viral and bookmarking social can put you in
front of a large audience immediately.
No matter how new the strategies keep in mind if you want your viral
marketing to truly take off then make sure its free. Charging money for
your report or video will guarantee you a limited appeal. Free is a
powerful psychological trigger for many of us so use it. Also make sure
you are providing quality. No one is going to be in a hurry to pass
around below average information.
The internet has in many ways leveled the playing field. Just stay
alert to any new innovations and be ready to incorporate them into your
internet web site marketing strategy. A smart viral marketing campaign
can make any small business successful.
About The Author
guide for more tips, tools, resources, free video coaching and up to
the minute information. Make the business of growing your business easy
and fun at http://winthemarket.com
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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run online business , matrix, internet marketing solution , online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer , computer training , computer software and personal computer
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