Ever heard the saying, “Careful what you wish for”? Every business owner thinks they want their product or service to become the focus of an online craze, but the reality can be quite overwhelming if you aren’t adequately prepared.
In a global business hub like London, where competition is high, everyone feels like they need that “extra something” to get ahead. This is where viral marketing enters the equation. It’s important to be smart, though, and to make sure you have the right foundations in place to handle anything.
In this article we’ll look at what actually constitutes viral marketing, and how to deal with it if it happens to you.
What is viral marketing?
As the name suggests, it’s a marketing strategy that relies on organic (positive) word of mouth, which in turn increases awareness of what your business does. It might relate to a specific brand, to you as a media personality, a viral product or service, or even an off-hand TikTok which captures the imagination.
In today’s increasingly digital world, this is a more viable strategy than ever before, with social media enabling things to spread like wildfire in the form of shares, likes, forwards, and memes.
Can virality be planned, though? Or does the very nature of it dictate that it must come about spontaneously?
Yes and no. Which we’ll look at next in our section about the positive and negative implications of viral marketing techniques.
What are the pros and cons of viral marketing?
A marketing campaign can certainly be orchestrated with virality in mind, but it still must go viral at the end of the day. Like any campaign, you want it to be a huge success – it’s sort of the point! But there’s no way to 100% guarantee this (unless you happen to own a crystal ball).
In fact, there’s always a chance your “viral” campaign will come unstuck – or even backfire. So what should you consider?
Pros
First and foremost, viral marketing can trigger exponential growth, helping businesses to expand their reach and target a wider customer base. The internet allows content to be shared with the click of a button (or the tap of a finger). A single post can be shared multiple times, and then shared again by the people who received it.
If your campaign catches on, you need only sit back and wait. In this sense, viral marketing (when successful) is essentially marketing on autopilot. It’s also the case that viral marketing costs tend to be a fraction of those of more traditional campaigns. All you need to do is get the ball rolling.
Cons
There are no guarantees for any marketing strategy, and viral marketing can be particularly unpredictable. It’s not a word you want to associate with any kind of business strategy, when the whole point is to try and guarantee as much success as possible.
There’s also no real consensus on how to measure its success, which makes it difficult to know what to do (or not do) next time round.
The nature of society today also means people are more likely to share negative news than its positive counterpart, and so if your campaign fails to take off, the bad buzz can be hugely detrimental, even affecting future efforts.
Now, let’s say your campaign does manage to break through and find an audience. That’s obviously great, but it doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods.
A sudden spike in demand can be difficult to deal with if you’re not ready for it, possibly even resulting in things like stock shortages, delays in fulfilment, and customer service problems. None of which are likely to give customers a good experience.
There’s a real risk of damaging your business’s reputation, undoing all your good work. This is why it’s crucial to have a plan in place, ready for when the marketing plan works out!
Planning for the demand before you go viral
It’s all well and good getting exposure for your business, but you have to know how to harness it. Good financial planning is what turns exposure into something sustainable.
Yes, viral marketing is a bit of shot in the dark, and so there’s every chance you’ll fail, but by the same token, there’s every chance you’ll hit on something.
For this reason – and especially if you’re advertising via social media or PR – you want to have a contingency plan that accounts for the possibility of your incalculable success.
We’re not saying you need to have a stockroom full of products (storage costs, funds tied up in stock) or to take on extra staff (wage costs, long-term commitment). But do have an idea of what you will do if things do get busy.
In other words, back yourself. Such a plan might include:
- Checking your cash reserves
- Reminding yourself about your VAT registration threshold
- Ensuring your bookkeeping is accurate and up to date
- Reviewing your pricing strategy
Viral marketing really comes down to risk vs. reward.
If you have a crazy idea or think there’s a trend you can capitalise on, then by all means go for it. Just make sure you prepare yourself and your business for all possible outcomes.
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