*** IN THIS ISSUE ************

- What is Viral Marketing?
- A Digi-Scrap Viral Marketing Campaign
- Learning More About Viral Marketing
- Share Info with Your Business Peers

What is Viral Marketing?

I recently did a review of the Butterfly Reports program which is an income opportunity based on viral marketing that you may want to consider adding to your current business. Some digi-scrap business owners may not be familiar with this marketing strategy and how it can help their businesses. So that’s what I’m going to explain in this issue of our Business Report and I’ll share with you an example you can implement right away to help you build your customer base.

Did you know that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service that they like, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like? It’s this very natural human behavior that viral marketing is based on. Viral marketing refers to advertising strategies that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. It’s rooted by the same theories of mouth-to-mouth marketing.

Viral Marketing is a method of advertising that practically any market demographic online can use successfully, once you know what is involved. Just like any other marketing campaign you can hire people who specialize in this field and you can wind up putting together a campaign that requires a big budget. However, you can also create an equally successful viral marketing campaign on a small budget without hiring an ad agency.

A Digi-Scrap Viral Marketing Campaign

Here’s a rather simple viral campaign recipe that you can cook up for your business if you are distributing digi-art products. This same model can be applied to other products and services too.

This is not meant to be a full tutorial. It is a general overview of one possibility you can use to promote your digi-art products. To use this strategy you would need an auto-responder or some other method for tracking people on a lead list. The AWEBER auto-responder is the one I recommend. Before I get to the details understand that there are a handful of principles to include for successful viral campaigns. You don’t have to use every principle in every viral campaign. For the campaign I’m sharing with you now I’m using four (of seven) success principles.

Here are the principles I’m using for this campaign:

1. Know your Goal
2. Provide a “viral worthy” product or offer
3. Provide easy transfer to others
4. Scales well from small to large
5. Use existing communication networks

(The two not included this time are: “Exploit Common Motivations” and “Include Honest Scarcity”)

Overview of components:

• Goal: To increase lead list and segment buyers from the list
• Viral Worthy Product(s): Free - Mini-Kit with redistribution rights and Large Kit at super low price with Personal Use Only TOU as an OTO product.
• Easy Transfer: Use Tell-a-Friend script on the landing page/thank you pages.
• Scales Well: Single distribution point that can be duplicated if needed and no additional software or hardware needs
• Communication Networks: Forums, blogs, and social network links

General Description of Viral Campaign:

Set up landing page with product description and “elite customers” list opt-in. Include the freebie product download link on the thank you page with a note about sharing this special deal with their friends. Include the Tell-a-Friend script on this page. Remind them to look for their super special kit info in their mail box. It will arrive after they confirm their email. This step meets the first half of my goal - to increase my lead list.

Customize the verification page with OTO (One-Time-Offer) special sale for the super sized kit info and purchase button. On the thank you and download page include the tell-a-friend script again. This step meets the second half of my goal - to segment buyers from the list.

To launch the campaign, I do four things. 1> Send an email to my current list members telling them about my new “Elite Customers” program and telling them how to join the FREE elite program by going to the landing page. 2> Make “Elite Customers” announcement in several forums where digi-scrap hobbyists hang out focusing on the freebie that’s handed out. 3> Post a blog article on the same subject and if there’s a blog carnival that it would match with, I’d submit the article for the carnival as well. 4> Submit the blog article to the social networking sites I belong to and encourage others to share the posting too.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. The launch gets the ball rolling. The “tell-a-friend” script gives your visitors an easy way to start sharing the good news. The opt-in landing pages grow your list. The OTO sale let’s you segment the buyers from the “merely interested”.

Even if you don’t make a profit on the campaign, you’ve still met the goals and have a healthy list of customers to start marketing products to in the future. One lead list of prospective customers (those who took the freebie only) and one list of customers (those who purchased the OTO. Your list is a much stronger asset than any of the income you may generate from the sales! I’ll go into more detail about growing your list, in future business reports and in our community forums too.

Now let me tell you about two other ways this campaign could become even stronger and help you generate more leads and sales:

One: Do a Joint Venture agreement with a fellow digi-scrapper (who also has a lead list in place already). With two artists sending out the offer to their individual lead lists you have a wider distribution of your initial launch message. Offer products from both artists on the landing page to help build each others lists.

Two: Attach the OTO sale to an affiliate program and let others earn money as they spread the word about your Elite Customers program. If a hobbyist can earn extra $$ by telling their friends to join the list, they are more apt to spread the word…. IF they think your program is viral worthy. Tip — Make the affiliate commission enough to equal or exceed their initial purchase if they get 3 others to buy! Great deal for your new affiliate/customer! Better deal for you because you earned 3 sales for the price of one and ended up with 4 new customers on your “Elite Customers-Who Purchase” list…. And you’ve just recruited another affiliate to your personal sales force!

Learning More About Viral Marketing

Recently there were two very successful viral marketing campaigns that were run by Frank Kern (the Mass Control project) and Jeff Walker (the Launch Formula 2.0 program). I happen to have the blue prints for both these campaigns and several others. Let me just add a quick thank you to Frank (and friends) for sharing this with me. Because now I can share these proven methods with you. So I’ll be teaching these strategies to our association members in the DSD-Pro Training Center through a series of Career Advancement Workshops - starting sometime in June.

Share Info with Your Business Peers

Now that our Business Briefings are online, it will be easy for you to share them with your friends. Simply use the permalink address found at the top of the page (just under the title) to point your digi-scrap business peers to this page.

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I hope this issue has helped you understand what viral marketing is and how you can use this type of campaign to help grow your digi-scrap business! Look for more information about viral marketing in our community networking forums - because it will be there soon.

Very Respectfully,
Cindy Angiel (aka - Paint Chip)
paintchip[at]dsd-professionals[dot]com

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