216 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS
attention. Viral marketers may not profi t immediately, but they
know that if they can generate interest from something “free,”
they will profi t soon.-^ Ensure ease of transfer or transmission to others. Viruses only
spread when they are easy to transmit. The medium that carries
your marketing message must be easy to transfer and replicate:
for example, email, website, or software downloads. Viral
marketing works online because instant communication is easy
and inexpensive.
-^ Provide simplicity. Marketing messages always work best when
they are simple and compelling. Viral marketing messages
need to be simple enough to be transmitted easily and without
confusion.
-^ Exploit people’s motivations. Clever viral marketing campaigns
recognize that people want to be connected, cool, popular, or
understood. As a result, people produce weblogs and forward
emails and web addresses. So, design a marketing strategy
that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its
transmission.
-^ Use existing networks. People are social, and network marketers
have long understood the power of human networks, both the
strong, close networks and the weaker networked relationships.
Use these networks to communicate your message.
-^ Benefi t from others’ resources. Creative viral marketing plans use
other people’s resources to communicate. For example, affi liate
programs place text or graphic links on websites, while authors
give away free articles or establish weblinks