Industry Insight/ Ascent Partners An entrepreneur’s mind is engrossed in a constant battle of ideas jumping in their head to make their business stand out in today’s ever-competitive business world.
However, these questions still remain in the minds of novice entrepreneurs — How can I start a successful business? How can I engage my audience with my content? How can I plan to sell my product or service in order to generate revenue? One efficient way in which this can be done is a business sales strategy that revolves around spreading the word about your product or service with other people.
This strategy is often referred to as viral marketing or viral advertising.
What is viral marketing? Viral, as the word suggests, is something that spreads easily and quickly within a given community, in this case, content and information about a particular product or service. Maintaining and raising brand awareness is one of the focal points of marketers today and using social media platforms, creating attractive content and engaging your audience are some of the main goals of viral marketing.
How has viral marketing changed today? With the increased penetration of social media among the general population, the idea of viral marketing has evolved leaps and bounds. It has gone from having its traditional roots in word-of-mouth marketing to now being purely internet-based. Many times, people think that viral marketing is an impossible task, which requires a lot of time, efforts and money to get your brand out there; however, this isn’t entirely true. To help you get the word out there, we have listed some efficient tips to help you kickstart a viral marketing campaign.
9-step guide to viral marketing Choose your target audience: Each business has a different target audience base. The most crucial step before starting your business would be to first decide your target audience and know and meet their demands. Once you know your target audience, you should then choose the geographical area and the social media platform being majorly used by your audience. Moreover, creating and sending across the right message that hits off the right note will help them connect with your brand efficiently and enable your business to get the word out, thereby increasing your reach.
Create attractive content: It is important to ensure that the content you post on the platforms is attractive. It should appeal to your audience in a way that could leave a lasting impression in their mind. This could include blogs, articles and catchphrases as well. Once you establish reliability and authority based on your content, you will be able to gain a considerable and loyal following for your business.
Generate emotional appeal: Viral marketing is about emotions—connecting with your audience on a personal level will make your audience feel close to your brand. Ensuring that your brand provides a solution to the needs of the society. It will also help create high-end value and respect for your product, which will, in turn, push your audience closer towards your brand and even recommend it to their followers.
The etymology of your brand: The name of your brand and tagline should be interrelated and easy to understand by your target audience; it should also be easy to pronounce and remember. There should also be a strong motive, story, or message behind the name, tagline and colour of the logo of your brand. For example, Coca-Cola is one of the most popular beverages in the world; its tagline, Taste the Feeling, helps appeal to their audience. The colors of this brand are red and white; it has been found that the color red in marketing portrays power, excitement, energy and passion. This example is indicative of the fact that the logo, tagline and colors could make a major difference in your branding.
Be unique: People always want to see new ideas and content. Therefore, you should try and do something extraordinary that could create a sense of awe among your audience. Moreover, you should take into account all feedback and reviews that you may receive as it will help your audience feel heard and make them feel special with your brand.
Maintain regularity: If you have a small business and are expanding it by using one of the popular social media platforms, you need to maintain punctuality. You can also check the time when your target audience group is active on that particular platform. Posting during these times will help increase your brand’s views and increase engagement with your audience. You should also maintain consistency when posting as this will help your audience recognise your signature-style of posting.
Networking and sharing: Networking is an essential tool for marketing. Having a reliable network of individuals and even local influencers can add to the value of your brand, if done properly. On the other hand, you should ensure to make your content easily shareable and not ask your audience to register when they are intending to consume the content that you post. This could hamper the entire focus of your marketing strategy and could affect your business. For example, when sharing on social media, use relevant hashtags as this will increase the visibility of your post. You can even use the “Like, Comment and Share” strategy on your social profiles as well.
Regularly check statistics: Numbers and statistics are important when marketing. Tracking the statistics of your posts helps you to understand the inclination of your audience; this could allow you to make any modifications to your strategy, if necessary. Viral marketing cannot be achieved in a day. If done religiously and patiently, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of the same.
Industry Insight is contributed by the Dubai-based business consultancy Ascent Partners. Views expressed by the consultancy are it’s own and do not reflect the policy of the news website.
To know more, you can get in touch with us at ask@ascentpartners.ae or at 04 422 7339.
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