Viral advertising using email was the earliest form of this phenomenon. Everyone wants his or her marketing message to be viral, or have a viral aspect and capitalize on viral marketing. Why not? It’s free and effective. The problem is that most people don’t understand what it is that makes their marketing email message worth of being passed along.

The concept of making an advertisement on email become viral is actually pretty simple. You put something in there that people will want to share with their family and friends, something they will want to spread around. Something interesting or funny that will get your message forwarded and forwarded again. The forwarding is what makes it viral. If it gets deleted or just ignored it isn’t going to be viral.

What won’t work:

1. Simply suggesting that your email be forwarded is ineffective. A note at the bottom that says “Feel free to forward this message to a friend” isn’t going to make it happen.

2. An email that offers nothing more than information about the product or service you are trying to sell won’t work either. Competition is stiff on all fronts.

What will work:

1. The message must be perceived as having value. Relevant or timely information, research or studies are examples of content that may be viewed as potential pass-along material. Interactive content like quizzes or personality tests are things that do get passed along because they are entertaining.

2. Multimedia experiences get passed along. Rich media email is getting a lot of press of late. People, myself included, are always touting the benefits. Yes, it is does take a bit more time and money investment but the messages have a great appeal and they do get shared with others….which is the objective of viral advertising.

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