Seven Offline Viral Marketing Ideas
Viral marketing is popular with the rise of social media because it is easy to reach many people that way, but it's really nothing new. You can encourage word of mouth referrals, create a buzz around a product or event, or just increase your visibility without using online social media.
Other People Are Reading
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Give Away Items
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Give away something that your customers will pass on to friends or acquaintances. Pens are the best choice for this kind of thing, since people leave them and others pick them up. Order a box of pens with your company name, phone number, website address and location on it, and give them out to customers. Leave them in places where people use pens: doctor's offices, banks and customer service counters. Other items that may work are business cards, specialty candy or a keychain.
Contests
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Run a contest. Make sure to mention the contest in your advertising and encourage viewers to tell their friends. Make the prize something of interest to a large number of people, and don't limit it to one winner, so your customers don't hesitate to pass it on to give themselves a better chance of winning.
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Special Offer for Specific Group
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Find a group that regularly communicates with each other that is part of your target market. This could be a church or community group: any group that has regular meetings, a newsletter or a central place to post messages. Offer a special discount for this group, and encourage everyone in the group to pass the word about this special offer among group members.
Referral Incentive or Reward
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Give existing customers a reward or incentive to refer friends and acquaintances to your business. When the friend makes a purchase, they tell you the name of your customer who referred them, and then that customer gets a special coupon, a discount on their next purchase or an actual monetary reward. Make the process easier by printing a coupon where the customer can write his name.
A Coupon for You and One for Your Friend
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Hand out a special flyer that contains two coupons: one for the customer you give it to and one for one of their friends. Encourage your customers to pass these coupons on to their friends.
Have a Special Event
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Do something that is visible to passers-by and will increase their interest and entice them into your business. Ideas include: putting a bunch of balloons by the front door, an open-house event with free food, a bouncy-bounce play area for the kids, or someone dressed in a costume waving at passers-by. Don't over-do this kind of event or it will cease to be special.
Hand Out Walking Advertising
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Give your customers something that will carry your logo and message out into the world. Ideas include: giving helium balloons to every kid who comes in, handing out bumper stickers or window clings for customers' cars, giving T-shirts or hats to select customers. You may consider selling shirts or hats if you have a logo that people may want to wear on their apparel. The key is that the message will be visible as the customer uses the item.
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