Understanding Viral Marketing
Expert viral marketers like Brad Powers understand the power of the internet and what it can do for brand identification and the success of a business. But what about the rest of us? How are we to understand the peculiar logic of getting the name and reputation of a company out into the public domain? Well it’s not really that complex. It is a new level of advertising, but has the same power, if not more. Today, the internet is where people are spending more and more of their time whether at home, school or the office. With the awesome power of social media sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, it is possible to have thousands of viewers within days of releasing a promotional video. When something is good, entertaining or unusual, word spreads fast and the brand name’s visibility is exponentially increased. This is the goal of viral marketing experts like Brad Powers.
Nike’s Viral Campaign with Kobe Bryant
This video is an example of a successful viral marketing campaign by Nike. Kobe Bryant wears their shoes as he jumps over various obstacles.
Brad Powers is an example of a viral marketing expert who is familiar with the numerous methods of online advertising.
Paying for College: Brad Powers
Today’s economic times present a difficult paradox for parents of almost-college-age kids. With unemployment at a high, a university education has never been more important. But many parents have been forced to cut back on high-priced elements of their family lives – and putting kids through college represents a particularly great expense.
Well, now there is one more source of assistance to help make sending your kid to college a reality. Minnesota-based TopLine Federal Credit Union has now partnered with Fynanz, which powers cuStudentLoans.org, a credit union-only cooperative student lending network that gives loans to students at more than 700 schools in 47 states, to enable its members to access the EdAccess Student Loan program. The EdAccess student loan can be applied towards all qualified education expenses, including tuition, room and board, books, and computers. Unique to the EdAccess program is its financial literacy component and monthly repayment option – so while you, the parents, are helping send your kids to college, they, in turn, will be learning good credit habits to last a lifetime.
Clark University GSOM, where Brad Powers is on the Board, has a fantastic fall series called the Executive Discussion Series. It is hosted by Peter Rowley and includes a number of high caliber lectures. On September 21, 2010, Nicholas B. Finn, the Director of Credit Suisse came to speak about “working on Wall Street in Private Banking.” On November 16, 2010, Maureen A. McGuire, the CMO at Bloomberg, LP will discuss “Managing a Business Brand Globally.”
Certainly, these are the types of high-caliber programs that make Clark University’s Business School a sought-after location for learning and growth.
In our previous post we began to discover some of the ways internet marketers such as Brad Powers might begin to develop an internet marketing strategy. We have already discussed five important points to consider. Here are five more to help you begin a successful entrance into the world of internet marketing.
1. Take the time to build and maintain a responsive opt-in email list.
2. Take the time to write and publish articles or get listed within news stories.
3. Be sure to write and publish press releases for online use.
4. A great way to create interest is to create and run fun contests and giveaways through your web site.
5. The personal touch is a powerful tool- be sure to blog and interact with your website visitors.
As the power of the internet increases, more people are interested in understanding what online marketing is all about, and if it is something they should think about getting involved in. Experts like Brad Powers have already discovered the amazing potential of internet marketing and have been pioneers in the field, constantly discovering and employing new strategies to achieve their goals.
For someone just starting out in this exciting niche, it is beneficial to understand some of the basics behind the workings of internet marketing. Here are five strategies to introduce you to some of the ideas. Next time we will discuss five others:
1. It is critical that your first step be creating an effective web design, promotion plan and strategy for development.
2. Always strive to get ranked near the top of the major search engines like Google and Yahoo! and be sure to learn and utilize excellent search engine optimization techniques.
3. Email marketing is a a powerful tool. Learn to use it effectively.
4. Take control of your marketing niche using affiliates, resellers and other associate programs.
5. Don’t hesitate to get advice from and an analysis by an internet marketing coach or consultant.
Fynanz Student Lending Program
With the Fynanz Student Lending Platform, a credit union has the capacity to get integrated into the private student lending business more easily. The technology used by the firm makes it possible for a credit union to “leverage the Fynanz turn-key platform to quickly launch a truly customized private student loan program.” In addition, the branded website (powered by Fynanz) lets your clients apply and manage their student loans while you set the rates and fees. You will have experienced student loan professionals to ease you through the process. When it comes to credit policy the Fynanz proprietary student loan specific underwriting model will be a huge help. You can fund the loans and take advantage from “being able to diversify your balance sheet and own longer term variable rate consumer assets.” At the end of the day with the experience and technology of committed staff and software, Fynanz “veterans are responsible for all origination, underwriting and servicing.”
Making Your Ideas Spread: Brad Powers
Many social scientists have spent a great deal of time researching why some ideas spread and others don’t. Certainly, this pool of data can be very helpful to viral marketing professionals like Brad Powers, who are trying to create ideas that will spread quickly.
Social scientist Dan Zarrella has isolated a number of characteristics that help ideas to spread.
Relevance: People are more likely to connect to others who are similar and whose message seems relevant.
Utility: While it’s great to be entertaining with viral marketing, it’s also useful to be practical and helpful with your message. Help to answer a question for me or to help me to do something I didn’t know how to do before.
Key Viral Marketing Tips
Viral marketing is clever, innovative and exciting. While it takes talent to create the perfect viral marketing campaign, there is also some luck and timing involved. Most viral marketing experts like Brad Powers will tell you that there are some key tips and formulas that can help you in the creation of your campaign.
Be creative with your viral marketing and do something unexpected. Everyone expects you to say how great your product is and how cool it is. Do something out of the ordinary to get your product or idea noticed instead.
While this piece of advice is difficult to take in – you need to forget about your company and your product as you make a viral marketing campaign. Focus only on creating a great story that people will remember. Your product will come in as part of the campaign – but it should be the story that draws in the viewers and keeps them interested.
Many experienced viral marketers like Brad Powers already understand the benefits of Facebook, online exposure, and photo tagging. For the less experienced, these tools can become quite useful, when used creatively and effectively.
At a recent workshop sponsored by the Northwest Metroport Chamber of Commerce on July 27th, the chamber hosted a Facebook workshop to focus on tagging and photo distribution.
Don Philabaum, an online technology consultant who led the hour-long seminar explained that “It’s word of mouth enhanced by the Internet…It’s marketing on steroids.”
