Viral marketing is unique and quite extraordinary. We share with friends and family the bargains or freebies we were able to get. If we can copy the freebie we will do it and give it to people that we know, if for no other reason than to make ourselves look good. Everybody knows somebody, and just like rumors, these freebies can spread fast.

You can use viral tactics to market your newsletter, your web site, products and services you're selling, practically anything. and you will have an opportunity to make a profit when someone clicks through the advertising on the freebie. The beauty of this technique is that the advertising is free for you and the benefit is free for the user/potential customer.

In other words, it really is one of those rare win/win situations.

The process is actually very simple. All you have to do is find resources where you can download free stuff, then turn around and give it away to your visitors. There are numerous online resources where you can download the freebies. For example, you may begin by offering your visitors free e-books and free software.

The software might cost a substantial amount of money to develop, but in the long run it's a one time fee for a decent stream of visitors. This is only one idea of many. You will find that the options are endless. Find something your visitors want and watch them roll on in!

Free web hosting is another form of viral marketing. You can provide this for free on your server to small businesses or beginning internet marketers. In return, you place a banner ad at the top of each site advertising your products and web site.

This will increase the number of visitors to your website and is an effective means of advertising with little expense.

In summary, Viral Marketing by definition is any advertising and/or marketing technique that, once started, spreads like a "virus" without you having to do any further work.

The Oldest Viral Marketing Tactic of All

The concept of viral marketing is an old idea made new again by the Internet.

Word of mouth advertising has been recognized as a worthwhile marketing tool for thousands of years. Some fish seller in Old London undoubtedly said to his customers, "tell your neighbors I have excellent cod today."

Remember the washing powder manufacturer who put dishtowels or drinking glasses in the boxes of detergent or was that before your time? They advertised it on radio a few times but mostly depended on people to pass the word around... and they did. That was a horse and buggy version of what we call viral marketing today.

Word of mouth advertising is simply direct communication between people about some product, service, brand, or event. Most of the time one of the people in the conversation has had some experience with what is being discussed.

Many times, but not always, the person who is doing the talking will have some relationship with the product, service, brand or event being discussed.

Word of mouth... viral marketing... is a two way street. I remember once my mother had a bad experience with a non-stick pan that she had just bought. The first thing she did was spread the work among her friends (who then spread the word among their friends) that the pan wasn't good. That is also viral marketing... the bad kind.

In today's internet connected world, I would feel very sorry for the manufacturer of that pan that ruined a birthday cake.

There are a lot of people in the big, wide world and a lot of them will have a lot of things to say about your product. Some marketers are taking word of mouth advertising to the next level by trying to influence what is being said about their product.

That might not necessarily be a bad thing but it could be a bit risky if the product is not up to par in the first place.