Give Them Gold, and They will Multiply.

[M.M. Hasan Parvez]

When the Internet became a popular place for people to congregate, it changed the face of marketing forever. Before, a successful marketing campaign required companies to maintain a geographical, physical presence around their target consumers. They had to physically print phone book advertisements, flyers, and leaflets. They had to get their advertisements sent out to local TV stations, radio stations, and the like. They had to physically install billboards along the highway, paint murals, and find people, practically, in their own backyards. Now, the physical element has been removed, and the costs have plummeted dramatically. This, however, does not mean that it?s any easier to capture your target audience.

When you?re setting out to meet your customers where they willingly hang out (i.e. social networking sites and social bookmarking sites), you have to give them a reason to care about you. Lest you become a member of the black-list database, you need to find a way to go ?viral? with your marketing. People need to feel as though they?ve discovered you, and they have to want to talk about your company naturally. No amount of advertising copy is going to sway them in your favor.

Of course, it often helps to come up with a humorous advertising campaign?something that people will WANT to imitate. If you come up with a great joke, people will WANT to post it as their status on their social networking profile. If you come up with an amazing song, people will WANT to favorite it is in their database. It?s truly impossible to stress this point enough: you have to convert your potential customers into living, breathing advertisements for your product. People are not going to listen to your branded messages and your advertisements by themselves, but they ARE going to listen to their friends.

It goes without saying that you can?t skimp on your marketing budget if you want to produce a viral sensation. You have to get yourself a quality team of writers, and you have to keep your long-term goals at the center of their minds. Give them enough time and money to develop campaigns that deserve mass attention, and be sure that they?re flawless in their delivery and execution.

Quality always matters more than quantity, and your marketing campaign is no exception. If you give people gold, then they will take it and tell their friends. Really, it?s just that simple.