Viral marketing is a type of mass distribution of advertising information. There are several methods of transmission that can be used to send out the important product or service information for a business, and these methods of viral marketing are the following:
- Web of mouth writing is a type of viral marketing on the Internet that converts advertising information into email format. Websites for news agencies include a separate link that allows a reader to send out the selected information to a friend automatically. The information sent out to the reader’s friend is all of the information in the article. The article content is sent to the friend’s email. This type of Internet advertising is specifically targeted to buyers who may have similar interests and buying tastes. (Gordon, Ian, 1989. Beat the Competition: How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Develop Winning Business Strategies. Oxford, U.K.: Basil Blackwell Publishers.) Photos are available through several media agencies that provide direct marketing ideas with photo image advertising.
- Email to mouth is a form of modern viral marketing. This type of Internet advertising is popular and allows spontaneous forwarding of email messages as jokes, quizzes, and photos committed to a certain group of email respondents.
Viral marketing has created a need for email forwarding and for links to send information to a friend. News agencies often use a form of viral distribution to send out certain commercial information. Word of mouth is a popular form of this style of viral marketing that is an enhancement. Word of mouth is a natural consumer advertising by product.