I’ve learned something as a marketer: executives and CEOs are often asking how to go viral with their company’s marketing. They want to publish the next viral Facebook post. The next Ice Bucket Challenge. The next “hook” that will put their business on the map and turn their brand into a household name. It often happens when said executives are looking at their budget sheets or reading the latest success profile on one of their peers.
And before the grumbling starts, marketers love going viral, too. We want the bragging rights as much as anyone.
Where’s my cheese?
The problem is, going viral is not the same as being successful, and brand awareness doesn’t always translate into sales. CEOs will sometimes spend big to get more Facebook clicks or email opens, then ask, “Where’s the revenue?” Because at the end of the day, it’s the bottom line that determines a company’s survival.
If revenue is what you’re after, you have to invest in the tactics that yield revenue. This will likely include some kind of email or social media campaign, but the strategies and messaging involved will be different. Sometimes, vastly so.
How to go viral: invest first
Going viral is fun to brag about in press releases, but it’s tough to predict and nearly impossible to engineer. Viral campaigns also need a fertile environment in which to germinate. An in-house marketing team that’s starved of resources, decision-making power, and breathing room will struggle to be creative on an average day. Plus, the business will lack the infrastructure and processes needed to deal with a viral campaign should one ever manifest.
In other words, you don’t want to gain a million new customers in a month just to lose them all through weak cultivation or inadequate service. Successful marketing is ultimately about consistency.
A dozen places to start
A good executive hoping to see a viral campaign should maximize tried-and-true marketing tactics first. These include:
- Understanding the target audience
- Developing customer-centered messaging
- Using best practices for social media
- Optimizing keywords on the company’s website (SEO)
- A/B testing for email and direct mail
- Simplifying purchasing and contact forms
- Segmenting communications
- Tracking and analyzing campaign results
Investing in these strategies will not only lead to a steady, measurable growth in revenue over time, it will also increase customer loyalty and make going viral more likely to happen.
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