5 Things You Need to Know about Viral Marketing

By Clare Kaufman
Learning & Life Columnist
August 24, 2007

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The 30-second television spot is a thing of the past. Today's successful marketing campaigns grab the viewer's attention with multimedia visuals and interactive 'advertainment.' If you can spin a good story using a range of media, you may have a future in next-generation marketing.

1. What It Is

Viral marketing and media promotion are all about creating buzz around a product. Today's information-saturated audience doesn't want to hear selling points. Better to build casual appeal and lure converts with subtle media tactics. Those tactics include real-life publicity stunts, 'leaked' video footage, online conspiracy theories, and good old-fashioned gossip.

2. How It Works

The point is to get the viewer hooked on a story, play it out gradually using various media, and subtly work in the brand. If the story is captivating, word will spread like a virus. Audi's advertising team staged an elaborate real-life 'theft' of an A3, and spun the intrigue to DaVinci Code proportions via blogs, fake Web sites, real-life actors, and fictional emails. Suddenly the A3 was a celebrity, and sales spiked.

3. Why It Works

Online multimedia has suddenly made marketing hip, and a lot more fun. Today's marketing uses media communications to create an "open-ended, multilayered, living entertainment" that will keep an audience engaged for as long as possible. Creativity and effective storytelling are a must, as is a mastery of multimedia technology.

4. How You Can Do It

A bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, or PR is the standard qualification for a marketing career. Look for an online degree program that specializes in Internet marketing and multimedia. Besides traditional marketing fundamentals, you'll learn the strategic potential of the Internet in developing brand recognition. Key courses include visual communications, brand strategy, market research, public relations, multimedia and Web design, media planning and buying, and concept development.

5. What It Does For You

The rewards are substantial for media mavens; marketing managers earned an average of $87,640 in 2004. PR managers averaged $70,000 and multimedia and visual communications designers came in at $57,520.

A media-savvy audience is raising the bar for marketing professionals. Creativity and technical training is your ticket to success in this evolving field.

Sources

Fast Company, "Down the Rabbit Hole"
CNN Money, "Viral Ads: It's an Epidemic"

About the Author
Clare Kaufman is a freelance writer who covers education and career-related topics. She has a graduate degree in English.

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