Here is a clip of an email I received today. Thought some of you might find it interesting.

Viral marketing was hailed a couple of years back as the
big thing in internet marketing, but is it still spread
like wildfire, or is it all but extinct.

I will refresh your memory with a definition of viral
marketing, as many are unsure. It is a form of online
marketing, which replicates itself, and spreads
exponentially, much like a virus. When used properly, it
can be enormously powerful and explosive. One of the
all-time most successful (and incidentally, accidental)
viral marketing campaigns was Hotmail. Their addition of a
signature line to every customers email, managed to spread
the word and sign up over thirty million customers, on a
relatively small marketing budget.

But is the virus still prevalent? Free e-books, e-cards,
free software (freeware), and screensavers -these are all
effective viral marketers, and all as prevalent as ever.
Viral marketing does seem to be covert unseen, un-noticed
- much like it's disease namesake. After all few people
would willingly use their time to assist your company's
marketing efforts -they usually do, unwittingly -by
sending an e-card, distributing a free e-book or freeware
program.

We'd really have to conclude that the marketing virus is
alive and flourishing, bringing rewards to those who use
it, but remaining mostly undetected by the general public.

So what are the essentials of a successful viral marketing
campaign and how can you incorporate one.

Firstly, to stand any chance of success it must survive. In
order to survive it must be interesting enough, or of use.
For example, a humorous image that gets passed around,
funny stories, a useful piece of software etc.

Secondly, it must be able to multiply. In Internet terms,
it must be able to be copied and passed on. In fact, it
should openly encourage recipients to pass it on.

The challenge now is to create the viral marketing tool,
which is useful, interesting enough to be passed on, but
whose marketing message is perhaps subtle enough to
overcome resistance. Much in common with Network (or Multi
level marketing), the real results happen when each person
passes it on several times, and each further recipient
continues to do the same, almost ad infinitum. In order to
achieve this, the amount of effort required to come up
with a viral tool is much greater. You have probably read
a free e-book -heavily sponsored, but many of them have
great content, which only a year or two ago might have
been sold for $50 or more!

It would seem the virus is definitely not dead. Not even
dormant. It is very much alive, and disguised as something
else- quietly spreading and evolving into more potent
forms. There appears to be no vaccine -we are set for some
highly imaginative, advanced uses of viral marketing in
the years to come. My only question would be, could you
afford to sit back and watch your competitors unleash
this powerful marketing medium on your customers?