As we enter the holiday season, which is traditionally a time of giving and sharing, what better time than now to examine the concept of viral marketing? After all, good affiliate marketers know how to develop viral marketing content. When they give it away to customers for free download, they know that a certain number of those customers will eventually give something back to them.

As best described by Mark Van Atta, “viral marketing is the creation and distribution of content that gets passed on to others. Its recipients perceive it as being valuable to them, but it also serves to promote your website. Viral marketers usually make their content available online and allow it to be copied and shared with anyone. It works somewhat like marketing buzz or word of mouth, except that it streams through people’s computers more than through people themselves.

The reason for the word “viral” is that given these parameters, such marketing can spread, like a virus, to potentially millions of customers – only this kind doesn’t wreak havoc on computers throughout the land.

But if you don’t like the connection with viruses, here’s a nicer spin on this definition: Think of viral marketing as a means to generate word of mouth over email and the Internet. Word of mouth is the oldest marketing tool in the book for a reason. Viral marketing allows the electronic equivalent of word of mouth to grow at relatively low cost to you, and with relatively low resistance from recipients because they choose to accept the content.”

Rick - Clifton Web Group