Viral marketing - the best way to advertise your business? [BT broadband office]

Viral marketing - the best way to advertise your business?

Posted 15 January 2008 at 10:04AM by Hannah Gilchrist in Doing business online

Watching funny clips on YouTube is a great way to while away the hours, but with new research showing traffic to online video sites doubled in 2007 are we missing a business trick?

Amongst the clips of employees racing down office corridors on chairs, posted by amateurs, there are hundreds of professionals posting clips not for fun but to drive traffic to their website or services. But does viral marketing in this way actually work?

Well yes, it does. Now considered one of the most powerful ways to sell products online, viral marketing can use all of the tech values of any other YouTube clip but, because of greater broadband speeds, business relationships can thrive too.

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Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, marketing, online, viral, youtube

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Comments

1. At January 15, 2008 11:23 AM, Ian Jenkins wrote:

While youtube is great fun: the idea that it generates any real business is guilding the lilly. In the Family entertainment sector where I work, sites like mine www.accessentertainment.co.uk drive the real business through provide revenue for BT and never get a mention! there, that should start a long overdue debate?

2. At January 15, 2008 1:14 PM, Isaac Yankem wrote:

Viral marketing's a good way of making adverts that companies wouldn't get away with showing on tv. I remember seeing an advert for a car online where a cat jumped on its roof and the car decapitated it with its sunroof. This made me smile. Cats are rubbish and deserve to die.

Admittedly I can't actually remember what car it was, but still...

3. At January 15, 2008 1:59 PM, Martin wrote:

If you've got a viral for your business or you've come across one you'd like to share, why not share it with the business blog community?

4. At January 15, 2008 4:54 PM, Randy Orton wrote:

Cats are rubbish and deserve to die? What kind of useless insight is this to an intelligent conversation about virtual marketing.

Virtual marketing allows companies to target there desired segmentation of the public using the web. This gives them the chance to maximise potential profits. If done well virtual marketing can be superb.

5. At January 15, 2008 6:11 PM, Isaac Yankem wrote:

Too right it can! Like decapitated cats! That is superb!

There was another one for the same car where a bird flew near it and the bonnet sprung up and smacked it in the pus! Brilliant!

In all seriousness though, if the virals are entertaining/funny enough (like feline abuse) people will email them about to their friends. Pretty good marketing tool if you ask me! I'm going to try and market the Star Wars kid! I'll be rich beyond my wildest dreams!

6. At January 16, 2008 9:09 AM, Miss Williams wrote:

"Isaac Yankem it was a ford KA " and it was pretty funny

7. At January 16, 2008 9:34 AM, Martin wrote:

In case you want to see the video clip mentioned, take a look at the Business blog community!

8. At January 16, 2008 2:24 PM, anjanesh wrote:

reminds me of the 'iphone-in-the-blender' viral campaign....

9. At January 17, 2008 4:23 PM, Nicola McBlane wrote:

Good example Anjanesh - because the iphone in blender viral ads were very successful at increasing business for the company.

Really - why wouldn't they work for drawing attention and increasing product awareness? - a necessary stage for gaining sales.

People can be too dismissive of online activity - social networks and other online communities are really just in the same category of as word-of-mouth.

BT broadband office