Home |
List of Articles |
Submit an Article |
Contact Us
Comedians Stumble Upon Viral Marketing Concept
"Viral Marketing" is the latest buzzword for the oldest form of promotion in the world... "Referral" or "Word of Mouth."
With a click of the "SEND" button, Internet e-mail enables people to quickly and easily refer things to their friends and families. These e-mail messages often spread rapidly through the Internet and to the far-reaching corners of the world.
Many smart marketers have learned to harness the power of viral marketing with "eBooks," the Internet's digital equivalent of the paper book. Two stand-up comedians from San Diego, California say they were surprised when they accidentally discovered this powerful phenomenon.
Steve Roye and Paul Stoecklein were trying to think of ways to Promote their new web site (killerstandup.com) when one simple idea caused an unexpected result.
"At first, we didn't know what we had," says Roye. "And when it finally dawned on us, we were shocked to discover that nobody else was doing it."
VIRAL MARKETING STRATEGY:
The idea is very simple. Roye and Stoecklein created a second Website called FreeJokeBooks.com http://www.freejokebooks.com/
FreeJokeBooks.com offers free downloadable joke books and humorous tales in the form of executable files. Created with the help of a compiler, the eBooks look like individual web sites. These eBooks circulate via email and feed traffic back to both web sites through hyperlinks.
"The embarrassing thing is," said Stoecklein, "I didn't really consider the email part of it at first. I just thought of the books as freebies to give people and hope they might come back to one of the sites. End of story. I really didn't consider the viral effect these things are having."
Although the idea seems painfully simple, it appears to be uncharted territory. Many people circulate jokes over the Internet as a marketing tool, and many people circulate eBooks, but nobody seems to be circulating joke eBooks - until now. Stoecklein says that their eBooks take advantage of the massive appeal of humor, but he stresses that the hyperlinks in their books are not deleted by readers like they are in regular email jokes. Therefore, the potential for subsequent web site traffic is much greater.
RESULTS:
Roye and Stoecklein launched freejokebooks.com on March 3, 2001 by sending one of their eBooks to just a handful of friends and family members. Within days, they had recorded over 30,000 hits from several countries all over the world.
"We hardly did anything!" says Roye. "Within hours, we had people in Finland reading our books. I don't know about you, but I don't know anybody in Finland... Fresno yes, Finland no."
While the forecast may look good for freejokebooks.com, the two comedians admit that everything is far from perfect and that they are continuously perfecting the concept.
"We're learning as we go," Roye says. "We're comedians, not Internet experts. Our biggest flaw is that we often ignore the rules." And what is their biggest strength?
"We often ignore the rules," he smiles.
About the AuthorMatt Hockin - Interactive Marketing, Inc. matthockin@home.com For information about the best viral marketing resources and techniques available on the Internet, send e-mail to: mailto:matthockin@home.com?&subject=Send%20Viral%20Marketing%20Info
Related Articles:
Viral Marketing - Your Key to Gaining New Clients - Email newsletters are an excellent means of promoting the products and services offered on your Website. Adding two simple tools to your newsletter can dramatically increase your readership. As well as Website promotion, email newsletters are an efficient means of retaining current clients by reaching out and touching them on a regular bas ...
Effective & Free Viral Marketing Schemes to Reaping MassesOf Web Traffic - I am always looking for sure-fire and free ways of targeted advertising. I'm referring to the unsurpassed effects of Viral Marketing using Internet Automation Tools. If you are in the Networking business, or looking for effective yet free ways to advertise your web site, you just can't ignore using this avenue of Online Promotion Methodology ...
The Awesome Power Of Viral Marketing - I'm sure you know about the value of viral marketing. I thought I did too. I knew it, but I never really understood the true power of viral marketing. It's awesome. I remember when I was growing up along a canal. We'd go out by the water and throw stones. As the stone would hit the water it would cause a rippl ...
Viral Marketing for Subscribers / ePublications 2004 - "Viral Marketing for Subscribers / ePublications 2004" by Maria Gates From the start of the Home Based Internet Business world , " How To" start, grow and promote an ePublication Mailing List has been the #1 method of passing along Free Information on how to use the Internet to your advantage. Subscribers have used these pre-built ePublication ...
HOW AND WHERE TO USE VIRAL MARKETING TOOLS TO PROMOTE YOUR WEB SITES - HOW AND WHERE TO USE VIRAL MARKETING TOOLS TO PROMOTE YOUR WEB SITES Inaddition to search engines marketing, email marketing, offline and online marketing, another very good but essential way marketing your web sites is the Viral marketing systems, I recommend viral marketing to webmasters, website owners, publishers, online marketers in general. ...
FEATURED ARTICLE: TIPS AND TECHNIQUES WEB SITE VIRAL MARKETING, HOW TO DO IT SUCCESSFULLY! - USE VIRAL MARKETING TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESSFULLY. In addition to search engines marketing, email marketing,offline and online marketing, another very good but essential way marketing your web sites is the Viral marketing systems, I recommend viral marketing to webmasters, website owners, publishers, online marketers in general. The ...
For a Complete list of Articles with summaries Click Here
© Copyright. All rights Reserved. QualityBooks.com | Sitemap
|