Mass Customization And Viral Marketing

Have you heard of mass customization? Viral marketing allows you to do that for your target audience. The greatest advantage of mass customization lies in the fact that you are able to tailor your core message for users in such a way that every recipient feels that the message is meant only for him. Such a message carries far greater credibility than a standard one size fits all approach that most advertisements apply.

So how do you customize a message that has a target audience of say ten thousand? There are a few very distinct methods, and they vary with the mechanism of viral marketing that you decide to use.

Customize Or Fail

If you are going to launch your viral marketing campaign using e-mail as the primary media, then the process is fairly simple. To begin with, you will need to tap the power of the core group of your users. This is a group of power users who are so satisfied with your product or service that they are willing to put in a good word on your behalf to just about anyone. Ask all of them for a testimonial and references of friends and business acquaintances who they think will be interested in your product.

Do not expect the busy executive to write a testimonial and give it to you on a platter. These are busy people who will seldom have the time to write. Ask if you can interview them and put up a draft document to them to approve. Ensure that there is no sales pitch evident. Also ensure that the document shows the executives own organization in good light. If you can put up several such documents on a website, it will be a great tool for generating a healthy buzz about your product. You can also use these articles on your blog as genuine user feedback. Put only a part of it.

Use Databases Extensively

For every reference provided to you as a referral, prepare an individual e-mail. This mail must mention the name of the reference provider prominently in the subject line. The matter must be closely tailored to what you have been able to find about the addressee. If you simply send a form letter, the effect is so poor that you can save the effort and not send any at all. This customization of e-mail can be done automatically if you have been able to build up a good database of your contacts.

If you think about viral advertising a little, you will see that it relies upon mass customization for its success. Even if you ignore the Internet and think of the one friend telling two others scenario, you will see that no two messages will be the same. You need to tailor each message to suit the personality of the recipient. Only then will the message have its intended impact. Be sure that your viral marketing campaign meets this criterion.

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