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Viral Marketing - Word of Mouse

Global competition has created two conditions of survival for businesses; one is product differentiation and another is cost effectiveness.
Companies therefore adopt various strategies in order to differentiate their product and to save cost.
These two conditions are not as simple as they sound because differentiating a product with cost effectiveness requires an integrative marketing plan.
You might have come across the term "word of mouth" i.
e.
generating brand awareness through human communications.
A new buzzword in marketing which is an online complement of word of mouth is "Viral Marketing" or "Word of Mouse".
It Marketing spread faster as compared to the word of mouth since a single marketing message can be send to multiple people at a time.
For startup companies, this marketing is an opportunity to generate brand awareness with just a mouse click.
This marketing approach will not be successful if an email is sent to everyone who is accessible.
However if only potential customers are targeted then it will be an absolute success.
Opinion leaders can also contribute in the success of viral marketing by making a message more credible.
The viral marketing mix comprises of product, price, place and promotion.
An important aspect which can not be ignored before starting a campaign is nature of product.
There are certain products such as Houses, Machines, Cars, Furniture which are not suitable for viral marketing.
Nevertheless books, CDs, software and tourist services are much appropriate for viral marketing.
To catch the attention of customers, various viral marketing programs usually follow "free-pricing".
In this effort, a free product such as free membership or free download is offered to customer as a motivation.
Companies afterwards generate revenue by offering an assortment of premium products.
The place is the Internet where 24 hours access is available.
The promotion takes place through customers who forward marketing messages to others.
Therefore the concept of viral marketing is very appealing in today's global competition.


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