Viral Marketing: Companies Beware!

There is a scourge upon this Earth. A Flash fever. A pandemic of digital silliness threatening the pillars of our civilization, and clogging our precious bandwidth with ads disguised as jokes, and satires that could be ads, could be jokes-we're not really sure. We speak, of course, of viral marketing. Companies have rushed to embrace this inexpensive yet wide-reaching electronic cousin of those "Wall Drug" bumper stickers. But are they risking death and disease on an epic scale?

Probably not. However, they may be risking a total waste of their marketing dollars.

When viral marketing spreads, it can result in elevated brand awareness and a healthy boost in sales. But if no one catches the virus, companies get sick.

The real challenge is identifying whether a video or flash doodad possesses proper mutation to successfully infect the population and achieve the status of "successful viral marketing." Companies claiming to have cracked that nut have spread like chicken pox in recent years. But the reality is, regardless of what any agency claims, no one really understands the mysteries behind Elf Yourself, extreme sheep-hearding, that dude Matt who danced around the world, and the other masterpieces of viral marketing companies have produced in recent years.

That's right, we said it. Viral marketing is largely a crap shoot.

However, the same can be said of virtually any online marketing effort, particularly if you work with an agency that's beholden to digital technology, but lacks understanding traditional advertising. In other words, to stack the deck in favor of successful viral marketing, companies should just call Plan B, where we combine intelligent interactive creativity with highly targeted and relevant messaging strategies to deliver the right messages to the right audience through the right channel at the right time.

One good example of our unique approach can be found in mobile marketing. Chicago has long served as a test market for new technologies, and we remember how excited we were, years ago, when we first discovered we could read the newspaper on our cell phone. At that moment, we saw the future. And ever since, we've stayed abreast of the latest mobile marketing technologies, and incorporated them to improve the performance of integrated campaigns for clients-where appropriate.

That last bit is critical, by the way. Where appropriate. Because there's a fine line between effective, relevant mobile marketing-such as text messages to opt-in customers-and mobile spam. Cross that line, and you risk turning our customers off, damaging your ban, and diminishing the effectiveness of your overall marketing program.

Learn more:
Web Marketing Strategy
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Social Web Marketing

Mobile Marketing: Chicago

So again, the lesson here is, if you need to develop an effective integrated campaign that incorporates the best of today's technologies, built on a foundation of proven advertising principles, call Plan B, one of the earliest adopters of mobile marketing in Chicago. We'll even pick up the tab for the phone call: 866.317.5262

So to sum up: Viral marketing. Mobile marketing. Chicago. San Francisco. Yeah, that's pretty much us.

We're Plan B.