Viral marketing—using random, uncompensated real people to spread your message—has become a cliché, often simply meaning, “We told two people and hope THEY tell two people, and so on, and so on.”
But this technique, also called “word of mouth marketing,” has a lot to recommend it. As a publications or Web content manager you can enlist your readers as contributors, and for a relatively small incentive you can get a great testimonial.
There is even an organization, WOMMA, dedicating to studying and advancing the art. WOMMA’s Case Study Library solicits contest entries for noteworthy marketing efforts, and lists more than two dozen campaign categories, ranging from “content sharing” to “work with social networks.”
In the viral campaign category, one creative and relatively low budget ($250,000) project stands out: Intuit.
The company, accurately described as a “traditionally conservative, 25-year old financial services company with market-leading products like TurboTax, Quicken, and Quickbooks,” conducted a TaxRap contest, in which contestants created and submitted rap videos about using TurboTax to prepare their tax returns.
The company received more than 500 videos—many of which it considered to be ad-agency quality—and earned more than three million page views, more than 900 incoming links, 700 blog mentions, at least 950 MySpace friends, almost two dozen TV features, and an ROI-positive campaign. The winning entry combines entertaining lyrics, a catchy beat, creative visuals, and effective illustration of TurboTax operation and value.
WOMMA recently released for public comment a draft of its Influencer Marketing Handbook. Check it out for a brief but insightful rundown of word of mouth, including a bibliography of influencer literature, including books, papers, blogs, and Web sites.
Intuit’s campaign—and WOMMA’s techniques—show that using unconventional techniques and media can powerfully amplify a message by speaking the target audience’s language, rather than that of company insiders.
