31GYL Day 21: Viral Marketing Examples

It's Day 21 in our Grow Your List challenge and we're heading into the section on Viral Marketing.

For Day 21, refer to pages 51-53 in the free
31 Day Guide to Growing Your List

I have some Viral Marketing Examples for you, including a very timely promotion by a local artist in the Nashville area - where you'll have a chance to win an iPod Touch! 😀

Viral Marketing: A method of promotion that relies on getting people to market an idea, product, or service on their own by sharing it with peers, friends and family...

Viral Marketing Examples

I'll start with the local artist I mentioned above as that is a live campaign to study, plus you could win an iPod Touch by participating - which is super cool. It will give you a chance to be part of the viral marketing process and get firsthand experience with, or at the very least study the model live - while it's happening.

The artist is Amy Black, local to me as she's based in Nashville, and her PR manager reached out to me by phone earlier this week to let me know about her contest and press release. Perfect timing since we're studying this very thing!

You can view her Viral Marketing strategy here:
Amy Black’s iPod One Time Music Collection Contest

The goal is to get people to share her music so she can grow her fan base and sell albums. And on a side note, I love that artists and creatives in this generation have that opportunity - to self publish, self promote, self succeed...

I checked out her video (below) and enjoyed it. Enough so to check out her tour dates and sign up to participate in her contest - and help her get the word out about her tour & album:

^ That's where you'll get details on how you can enter the contest yourself, by the way. I would love to hear your thoughts on both the music *and* the strategy. 🙂

Creating Your Viral Marketing Strategy

As I mentioned in yesterday's post on Viral Video Marketing... people don't share "meh". They share awesome. (credit to Jason Falls for that one)

Consider the topics or ideas you can really have fun with. Put some thought into ways you can frame otherwise “meh” concepts. Think about your market and the things that would really capture their attention, and/or what they would most likely enjoy - and share.

Start by studying the things your market is already sharing. Also look at the hottest videos in your niche. Get a feel for what your market responds to. It probably falls into one of these categories:

• Humor
• Free Tools/Resources
• Controversial
• Offensive
• Engaging
• Thought-Provoking
• Inspirational/Motivational

You have to get creative, and also research your market's current trends & activity. Once you choose an idea for your Viral Marketing strategy, the goal is to get your concept into the right hands to let the spreading begin...

Info Product Viral Marketing Examples

There have been several great examples of info-products going viral over the years. Harvey Segal is a long-time master at this strategy.

More recently it was Jonathan Leger with the $7 Secrets report and 100% commission model. Both are very good examples to look up and review.

The two most popular models are rebrandable info-products, and 100% commission. There have also been examples of free reports going viral with a pay-per-lead affiliate program, paying .50 to $1.00 per free download.

See these two posts for more ideas:
> Viral Marketing using Free Reports
> Going Viral with Rebrandable Reports

Your Task For Today:

Refer to pages 51-53 in your guide. Brainstorm ideas for your Viral Marketing strategy, and study other Viral Marketing examples. Jot down every possible idea to start, then you can brainstorm each in more detail and select the best from the list.

Also make a list of the movers & shakers in your niche that might be able to help you get your concept out to the market. Include your Affiliates, your Joint Venture partners, and any other big players you might be able to attract.

Tomorrow we'll look at a specific viral strategy: using contest giveaways!

Best,

p.s. Don't forget to check out the video & the contest to win an iPod Touch! 😉