This post is going to evolve around 2 terms: Viral Marketing and Viral Video Marketing

What is viral video marketing anyway? It is marketing in such a way that your video (or the ad being promoted) gets forwarded from viewer to viewer simply because they like the video and want their friends to see it. There is nothing forced upon the viewers to forward it to their friends, but they want to on their own terms and do anyway.

Many people and businesses view viral video marketing in different ways.

• Some people see it as a way to simply get people talking about their product, service, business, or website.  Such people and businesses do not necessarily care if people like the videos or not.  The video was created mainly for the purpose to get people talking about it.  When people talk about it, the website will increase it’s viewers.
• Others however, utilize viral marketing to get their ads in front of millions of viewers just like a traditional commercial (reminds me of Superbowl half-time advertising).
• There are people who create such videos, just for the sake of doing it.  This is where the whole viral marketing craze began – people liked creating their own materials for others to see.

Whichever way you see viral marketing,  there is no doubt that it can be incredibly effective method to generate website traffic to your site.

Over the years, there has been an incredible number of videos that have successfully gone viral and have had millions of viewers as a result. Such exposure can lead to very large amounts of website visitors and profits for any website or business. This no doubt provides excellent exposure.

Viral marketing videos do not need to make sense to be effective and successful. They need to be entertaining and able to maintain a viewers attention long enough to send a solid message across. If a video is well fit for a market, people will like it and will send it on to their friends. Whether the message being portrayed is to visit a website, try some product, or even just to sign up for more information, a entertaining video that viewers like will get passed on for others to view.

There is no “best” viral video because they come in so many forms, varieties and in are targeted towards many different markets. However, there are good and bad viral videos which is why some videos make it big online, and others have troubles even getting a few hundred views.

I can’t count how many videos I have seen shown on television programs that originated online. When something goes viral, it can become a worldwide phenomenon, or a localized success and as a result, so can your webiste or business. This is just another potential updide of viral marketing though!

Viral videos can be anything from a home video taped on a cell phone, to an expensive commercial advertisement. Whichever format you use for your video, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind.

1: Identify your market

Just like when you market anything anywhere, you should first identify your target market. It is your target market that you want watching your video the most because they will be the ones “best fit” to be interested in your video. Many of them will send it on for their friends to view as a result.

2: There is no NEED for professional grade video

Take a look at many successful viral marketing videos. You should notice that in no way is it necessary to have perfect video skills with fancy effects. A majority of successful viral marketing videos are actually home made clips shot by someone with minimal experience. It’s not the quality of video that is important here, it’s the entertainment factor of the video itself.

3: What will make your video go viral

What is it that your video has that makes it stand apart from others? It is this factor that will help your video climb to the top of the charts and have people passing it on to friends. Take a look at videos that you enjoy and have already (or would) passed on to friends and understand why they became successful in the first place.

Maybe there is some hilarious moment that was caught on tape, possibly something very shocking happened to be video taped, maybe some kid acts in some desperate fashion, you may even have some incredible performance etc.

The truth is, there is no limit to the amount of things that can potentially go viral… but you should ensure that you include factors in your video that will help it stand apart from others (in a positive way).

4: Distribution

Possibly the most critical part is the distribution. Your video is complete, and ready to be sent to video websites. However, if you mess up on this part, all of your previous efforts can go down the drain.

Here are a few prime viral marketing video examples at work:

This first video is not professional quality by any means, yet it has received over 18 million viewers at YouTube alone. This video itself does not promote anything, not even a website…but in the comments the website is promoted. www.laughingbabyethan.com. If the site was included in the video somewhere, massive traffic would be advancing to the site daily at a much larger rate than they most likely received.

The next video premiered back in 2006.  This guy, now known as the Numa Numa guy, became incredibly popular online. He was talked about and responded to many times over both in text and video responses.

This is a great example of a viral video that became very successful because people find it entertaining to watch. As you will see, there was lots to talk about (and make fun of) after this video went viral.

The next example is a video that was taped without any professional equipment…no professional taping here! Its a funny moment caught on tape that I am sure has proven incredibly profitable. There has been over 22 million viewers to this video. This demonstrates a simple yet highly effective way way to get your site in front of people … simply a funny moment!

Okay, this next one I don’t completely understand why it became so popular… but it did. It appeared during the whole Britney Spears breakdown thing.  I can’t even watch the whole thing myself.

Over 22 million viewers watched this and made his youtube and myspace page very successful.

Below is an example of a massively viral video that isn’t like most others. This actually shows Ronaldinho testing out new Nike shoes. This ad has had over 25,000,000 (yes that’s 25 million) viewers since it was released on YouTube alone. Just think about what this can do for the nikefootball.com website that is promoted in it, even if only less than 1% of viewers actually advance to the site…

The next example of an effective viral video that has become incredibly popular is titled “Potter Puppet Pals”. As I mentioned earlier, a viral video does not NEED to have a point…and this is such a video.  At least I don’t see a point behind it…yet, it is entertaining! This has proven to be incredibly popular with over 50,000,000 views. They tie it into the already HUGELY popular Harry Potter phenomenon. (Does this give you any ideas? … think about combining your video with something that is already very popular…).

Now to the cream of the crop in my opinion. This beauty has has over 99,000,000 (Yes, 99 million!!) viewers on YouTube alone…This is exposure at it’s best! It is a very well thought out dance performance titled “The evolution of Dance”. Once again, if a website had been promoted at the end of the clip, very large numbers of visitors would be flocking the site, but unfortunately one wasn’t.  It does still demonstrate a type of video (performance) that has become very popular online (and can be again).

If you are lucky enough to have your video become a viral success, then you will see great results.  If your business or product has a marketing strategy with a viral nature behind it where people may create a video about it on their own, (hint: or with some enticement!!), then you can receive some amazing free exposure for your product, service, or website.

Before I finish, I want to provide you with a little hint if you are ever interested in making your own video.

Hint: Make a short clip to direct viewers to your main video … if your short clip is good enough, you can have it receiving millions of viewers and directing them on to your main video and then to your website. Your main video can drive visitors to whereever you want them to go!

Creating a video that becomes a viral masterpience can be a very powerful way to market your product, service or website online.  Don’t overlook the power of video!!

If you have enjoyed this post, why not tell your friends?, after all… I wrote this so people can read it and watch the great videos.

To your success,

Mark Garland

P.S. If you are interested in learning how to quickly and easily submit your videos to over 20 video sharing websites with just a few mouse clicks, then you should follow the link I have provided below:

http://www.AnalyzedMarketing.com/presents/video-pro

P.P.S. If creating video is not for you, yet you would still like to drive large amounts of website visitors to your site, DO NOT get frustrated.  I have a traffic generation program that is perfect for you.  Check it out by going to: http://www.AnalyzedMarketing.com/business_area

Hi all, I’m writing this post today mainly to introduce you to a very funny advertisement I saw the other day. As I said in the title, it will have you wondering…what is being advertised!

I will get to it in a bit, but for now I want to update you on the status of my marketing ecourse “The Total Marketers Handbook”.

I have just finished adding a few testimonials to the sales ad that I have been provided by some of my happy customers. The use of testimonials are very important if you sell a product online because it gives your potential customer some insight into the thoughts of other people who have purchased the product. Effective testimonial use can actually be the difference between a sale or not. But whatever you do, make sure they are real honest testimonials!!

Marketing is something that a large majority of businesses and websites do poorly and as a result, either fail and must close up shop, or just don’t create enough profit to remain profitable only to constantly lose money hoping things will “magically” turn around on their own.

Well let me tell you that if you utilize the fundamentals of marketing on your current or up and coming business, you can see extremely large increases in your bottom line…and this is something that absolutely every business enjoys. After all, profits are the lifeline of businesses around the world. This is where The Total Marketers Handbook will prove very beneficial for you!

I don’t want to babble on to much though because the main reason I made this post is simply to show you a very funny commercial that I saw the other day (At least I find it as being funny). As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to pass it on. I won’t tell you what it is promoting until after you watch it because you probably will not expect it. It’s not in English, but does has subtitles…I definitely urge you to check it out. I am sure you will want to pass it on to friends too because it is a very humorous commercial!

I bet you didn’t think that the commercial was promoting an eye care company! haha… It is a prime example of an comedic story based commercial that keeps you wondering…”What is the commercial about?” until you get to the end. It is entertaining throughout as it sort of plays out a story of people robbing a bank…obviously with a huge twist as it was actually a sperm bank. (Dumb robbers if you ask me, lol). The twist mainly arises due to the thought of the sperm being yogurt…and from there on I am sure your face puckered up with the thought of eating/drinking sperm! haha

Now because the commercial/advertisement is promoting a foreign company of which I can not even read the name, it is not effective at getting me as a potential customer. However, those who are familiar with the language may just remember the company in the future because of how the ad caught their attention.

To your Success!
Mark Garland

P.S. Don’t forget that if you currently struggle with your online business and would like to learn how to change things around that I have created an online business training program that will show you how to turn your efforts into profits!

I am a frequent web surfer…looking for new and exciting things. These things can range from products and services to marketing mediums such as video ads, audio ads, even text ads.

As you may already know, I enjoy letting others know my feelings for commercials and promotional videos. If you didn’t already know this, now you do! Since I have a marketing background my comments are usually done from a marketing standpoint.

Yesterday, while I was doing some online surfing, I found an ad that was very well thought out. There area some areas I would have suggested be changed but overall it was a well made ad. Appealing to a widespread audience due to it’s “adultesque” humor (I may have just made that word up, not too sure!). By it I mean it is based towards a more mature audience of college students and up who are of age to drink. It is a viral advertisement for the AMP energy drink, I don’t know if it was ever a commercial on the mainstream tv, or if it is just viral, but here it is:

What did you think of the ad? Did you find it as being humorous?

I would expect a very large amount of people would enjoy the ad itself but many people may not know that it is actually marketing an energy drink. It is not directly sexual in nature as it is about the morning “walk of shame”, but as you may have noticed, everyone would get an AMP energy drink when they were on their “walk of shame” early in the morning to give themselves an energy boost (because they would have lost most of their energy the night before..wink, wink, nudge, nudge). This direct product placement can be an effective way to get a product in the thoughts and minds of consumers.

Now even though I did like the ad, there was something I didn’t like about it. The products themselves, AMP energy drinks, were tough to distinguish. Only people who were familiar with the product would most likely be able to associate themselves with it. Now this is fine if the meaning of the ad was to refresh the current image of the energy drink in consumers minds, but I highly doubt this is the case as I for one have never heard of the AMP energy drink until now.

I am unsure if this specific ad was cut back a few seconds or not, but they should have had a final scene showing just the AMP energy drink itself. Doing this in an ad solidifies in the consumers mind, what the ad was about (Energy drink) and allows them to place it visually in their minds (because they will be able to clearly see the product). Doing this will make them more familiar with it and this simple familiarity can easily be the distinguishing factor between purchasing the AMP energy drink itself or one of its competitors. With fierce competition in the Energy drink market, personally thinking about such drinks as the always popular (in this area anyway) Red Bull, Monster, SoBe, or Full Throttle, something distinguishing has to be done…and this is a great start!

So what is special about this ad?

Well it’s a good example of how to market using a comedic video. Obviously, this ad is a funny or comedic energy drink ad and as such is humorous throughout the entire ad quite well. I thought the song was both written well and was played out well with the scenes throughout the ad, making it a interest keeping and entertaining ad to watch.

The ad tells a story instead of clearly just promoting a product. It’s theme doesn’t normally make you think of an energy drink either. When you think of “the walk of shame” you probably don’t think about energy drinks being associated with it. But now after watching the ad…it could be a possibility in some people minds.

And now for your educational aspect of this post:

You see, part of marketing is associating your product with what you want it to be associated with. But another part is just actually getting it into the evoked set of consumers. Your evoked set is the initial products that come to your mind you think about using in a situation. For example, my evoked set for energy drinks are are ones I can think of directly (as listed above) Red Bull, Monster, SoBe, Full Throttle and now AMP energy drink. This is in my opinion one of the biggest benefits of advertising…getting the product into the evoked set of a consumer for as specific use or time. This is beneficial in the long term for a company!

I hope you enjoyed this post, any comments would be appreciated!

To Your Success!

Mark Garland

P.S. Have you checked out my marketing training program yet? It is a training program that will help you take your current business to new heights on the Internet or help you create a profitable business for yourself from literally scratch. Thorough training materials are included on many of the most critical aspects of a successful online business. You can even learn how to create such an advertisement as above and add it to your site and to your business marketing tactics. Check it out by advancing to the complete online business training.