Grabbing Attention vs. Driving Sales – A Viral Marketing Dilemma

Viral marketing is a concept that really seems to have come of age with the Internet and especially with the advent of video sites like YouTube

. The basic idea is that a marketing tactic becomes infectious' much like a virus and that viewers actually pass it along to others in ways similar to how a cold is spread from person to person. The benefit for the advertiser is that after the initial cost of distributing the ad to a base group of consumers, those consumers pick up the task of rapidly expanding the distribution to their friends and contacts exponentially. No question, there are huge benefits in having an ad go viral. It generates massive exposure for minimal cost beyond that initial distribution.

Numerous companies have sprung up claiming expertise in generating viral marketing campaigns that will gain tremendous amounts of consumer attention, although the entire process of creating a viral success remains a very hit-and-miss prospect. Most big viral outbreaks' still appear to be somewhat accidental. Most of them still seem to revolve around cats doing dumb things on video, but occasionally a company actually hits a viral home run with a marketing campaign. (Remember the Old Spice Guy personalized videos from earlier this summer?) But, harnessing the power of viral marketing to actually drive business is even more challenging. There have been reports that Old Spice sales spiked very nicely following the Old Spice commercials and viral campaign, but that may be the exception to the rule.

Affiliate marketing blogger Mr. Green wrote a post recently about a very creative interactive video ad for some kind of white-out tape product. The post and the comments really get into an interesting discussion about the value of a viral video and whether or not it actually drives revenue.

The video program being discussed in the article is certainly fun to play with, but as many comments on the post point out, does it really have anything to do with the product being promoted? In fact, if you played with the program, do you even remember what the product was? At the least, a marketing program should be driving awareness of the company and its product even if it can't be tied directly to sales. If it isn't even accomplishing some basic branding awareness, then what purpose is it serving other than keeping viewers entertained?

For affiliate marketers the entire point of a marketing initiative is to drive consumers to take a specific action that is valued by the advertiser (buy a product, fill out a lead form, join a membership program, download software, etc.). Notice that branding isn't typically something that affiliate marketers focus on (or get paid for). In fact, I can't really remember seeing any truly viral marketing campaigns in the affiliate marketing arena (I'm referring to campaigns that drive traffic to advertiser offers, rather than the occasional viral/branding video from an affiliate network like some of our video masterpieces for example.

So, does viral marketing have a place in affiliate marketing? The answer is almost certainly yes. But, it needs to be tied directly to actually driving response to a particular offer. I could definitely see an innovative publisher come up with something completely outside the box with a viral aspect to it that could still remain focused on driving quality traffic to an offer. Certain verticals would likely lend themselves to this approach more than others. Since humor is a nearly universal component to good viral campaigns, a vertical that easily generates to some funny insights (Dating comes to mind) could be a great fit for some viral marketing. One of the biggest challenges for an affiliate marketer is that viral campaigns tend to have a fairly limited lifespan. They can generate a lot of traffic in a short period of time, but then tend to fall off fairly quickly. Still, don't be surprised if one day soon the viral video you are watching leads to an affiliate offer rather than just a good laugh.

Grabbing Attention vs. Driving Sales A Viral Marketing Dilemma

By: Tom Wozniak

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