Viral Marketing vs Word of Mouth

Word of mouth marketing and viral marketing are very different marketing tools that can be easily confused as the same. Word of mouth marketing is a form of promotional campaign which operates through an individual’s personal recommendations of specific brands, products or services. It is much easier for someone to take a recommendation from a friend or family member then from an advertisement or advertiser. This is on the basis that recommendations are generally perceived as incentive-free, unlike the obvious motivation of advertisers. Word of mouth works in the form of a marketer doing something and then the consumer tells five or ten friends. It usually has a short life span because at first it amplifies the marketing action and then it fades, usually very fast. Most organizations are better of working with word of mouth marketing because it is more likely to occur, it’s more manageable, and it’s more flexible.

Viral marketing is any marketing technique that induces web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect. Viral marketing is like a compounding function. A marketer does something and then a consumer tells five or ten people, then they tell five or ten people. All the while the message grows enormously like a virus spreading through a population. Starting that one marketing message is all that the marketer has to do. Viral marketing is advantageous to use because of its easy execution through email, instant messaging, and using other web sites. It is a low-cost method of marketing because with just a little investment on viral advertising, its power can reach even hundreds of thousands of people as compared to spending the same amount of money to traditional advertising methods. Viral marketing is good for targeting people who are likely interested because the people who see the message generally pass it along to their friends who are also interested in the same things. Due to the widespread effect of going viral is has a high and rapid response rate. Viral marketing can be very effective, but it’s odds of great success are much like wining the lottery. So for an effective viral marketing campaign to go big it is a very good idea to start by focusing on who the target market is and then placing the viral agent in the most effective websites, blogs, or any other influencing places.