As traditional media continues to lose audiences, businesses are increasingly focused on new media formats, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, to connect with customers. The goal should be to reach your precise target audience.
New media allows marketers to activate the interested and turn them into campaigners for products and services. Advocates drive success. You may have the shiniest needle in the haystack, but without help, few will notice your podcast, blog, or Flash-enhanced Web site.
Once noticed, however, the best in any category will be discussed among the most passionate talkers and bloggers in that field. The trick is to learn where those people “hang out” and give them some-thing worth talking about (and forwarding to fellow aficionados).
Viral Marketing
How do you make viral marketing work for you? A good example is the Blendtec blender. The company’s home blender sells for about $400 retail–a huge premium considering that most decent blenders sell for about $50. This is one tough blender, though. Tom Dickson, CEO of Blendtec hadn’t even heard of YouTube in late 2006 before his marketing manager, George Wright, decided to try a viral marketing stunt by posting a few homespun videos on the Internet. Dickson actually became the main character in the “Will it blend?” videos.
In a matter of weeks, spending under $100, Blendtec generated rabid interest in its blender and increased sales dramatically because millions watched the company’s YouTube videos.
The viral campaign worked like magic. Thousands of people rushed out to purchase a $400 Blendtec when a $39.95 Hamilton Beach blender would make just as fine a smoothie. In 2006, Blendtec sales were well under $10 million. By 2007, Blendtec sales exceeded $40 million. That astronomical growth resulted from giving the marketplace something unique, compelling and remarkable (as well as funny) to spread around.
E-Mail Marketing
E-mail marketing is almost…