In “viral marketing” a company leverages its existing base of customers to bring in more and more customers. It is is a modern term for the age-old concept of word-of-mouth advertising, enhanced by the Internet and other technologies. The idea is that a product proliferates by people “spreading the word.” It is called “viral” because it can cause the product to spread like a virus, or “infect” its market.

     A good theme for a viral campaign is “Resonance is fertile.”^« Resonance is the physical phenomenon of two systems being in harmony with each other so that energy can be exchanged between them very efficiently. An object that is in resonance with a source of energy can absorb that energy with minimal loss and grow very powerfully. An effective viral campaign aims to set the company and its customers in resonance, making the company’s services fertile ground for growing more business. This theme will be called into play later in this article.

     This article is based on the nonproprietary aspects of a campaign developed for CallWave, Inc. in November 2002. The full campaign included an evaluation of the current “virality” of the company’s communications along with strategies developed for increasing the virality and measuring the progress in doing so. Thank you to CallWave for permission to reuse the generic content presented in this article.

Outline of this article

1. What is Viral? What is viral marketing and how does it lead to exponential growth?
   • Messages and Virality
   • Growth Math
     • Calculations
   • Combined Impact

2. Being Viral. What makes a company/product viral?
   •   Be good
   •   Listen
   •   Connect People
   •   Stand Out
   •   Reach Out
   •   Hum
   •   Amplify

1. Resources. Sources of additional information on viral marketing
   • Media
   • Viral Marketing
     • Viral Web Sites
   • Memetics
   • History
   • Cutting Room Floor

2. PowerPoint Presentation.