One method is viral marketing. The internet is a highly viral medium and with the right strategy you can take advantage of its viral potential in order to maximize the reach of your campaigns. Here are four tips to help your viral marketing campaign succeed:

#1: Offer value to the user

Content is king when it comes to viral marketing. If your content isn’t good, people won’t pay attention to it, let alone share it with their friends. But how do you know what good content is? A great way to judge this is to ask, does this offer value to the viewer or user?

Entertainment is probably the most obvious form of value. But it’s difficult to get good viral marketing results with entertaining content alone. To do this, your content has to be unique, enlightening, or hilariously funny. Often you need to be edgy, off the wall, or even controversial. In short, you have to take a risk. If you’re not willing take a risk and create something that will stand out from the crowd, it is unlikely that your message will reach a large audience.

If you’re not willing to take a risk, there are other ways to offer value to your audience. Consider running a contest, sweepstakes or instant win game. These forms of promotion offer the user value in the chance to win a prize. Furthermore you can offer incentives such as additional chances to win, VIP content or status symbols to motivate users to spread the word.

#2: Don’t take on an “If you build it, they will come” mentality.

Regardless of how compelling your content is you can’t simply put it up on the internet with no media support and expect that people will find it, let alone start spreading it around. You need to get the ball rolling by seeding your site. Think about your target audience and the offering you are advertising. Seed your site on high-traffic blogs, message boards and social news sites that cater to your audience. Some blogs allow paid content so consider ear-marking some of your budget to paying for write-ups on relevant blogs.

#3: Leverage Facebook and Twitter

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have become a part of daily social interactions for most consumers. This is important for viral marketers because one of the key ways people sift through the massive amounts of content on the internet is by finding out what their friends are watching and doing; Facebook and Twitter are extremely effective and powerful ways for people to tell each other what they are up to online.

The question is how do you leverage these powerful communications tools and get people talking about your content on Facebook and Twitter? When you develop your promotion, plan to give users built-in tools they can use to post messages on their Facebook Walls, Twitter Feeds or through Facebook email. Provide generic banners and links that people can post on other social networks they use. The easier it is for people to tell others about your promotion the more successful you’ll be.

#4: Know that viral marketing is just one tool.

This last piece of advice applies to microsites and interactive promotions. When you’ve spent money to create a microsite, it’s risky to rely on viral marketing alone to get traffic to your site. To get the most exposure for your site, you need to employ any and all means at your disposal. Here are some inexpensive ways to drive traffic and awareness:

• Tag your offline collateral (eg. TV/radio commercials, print ads etc.) with the campaign URL
• Send out an email and/or SMS blast
• Tweet to your followers
• Post the url and specific value proposition on your Facebook fan page
• Circulate press releases to relevant publications

The internet is a great way to give your audience a truly interactive experience with your brand. A well-executed online promotion can educate, entertain and engage users in a way that advertising through traditional media can’t. If you want to take full advantage of the benefits of online marketing you need to think carefully about your content and your target audience. You also need to understand the viral nature of the internet and develop a viral marketing strategy. Effective strategies coupled with easy-to-use pass along tools will ensure that your campaign drives maximum traffic and engagement.

Today’s Nugget:  Discontent is the first necessity of progress.   Thomas Edison

Turn the 5,000 people into advertisers and we have reality for today’s consumer. It’s estimated that we now encounter an average of 5,000 ads every day … up from 500 in 1971. As a result, every advertiser now faces increasingly resistant, discerning consumers who can dictate the terms of how they will accept advertising.

In such a marketplace, how can advertisers break through to their targets? They can

• go where consumers are
• participate in what they are doing
• provide an immediate reason for consumers to engage with their brands

Over the last couple of years, most advertisers have embraced point #1. They are following consumers online. Digital advertising is the only area in which the majority of chief marketing officers surveyed by the CMO Marketing Council’s Marketing Outlook 2009 said they would increase their spending this year. Forrester Research predicts that interactive marketing will reach nearly $55 billion by 2014 and grow—at a compound annual growth rate of 17%—from 12% of overall ad spend in 2009 to 21% over the next five years. Indeed, Sony Ericsson decided to double its online ad spend last winter. Cathy Davies, director of the company’s global marketing, explained: “Through our digital strategy we’re really trying to communicate, not just tell people to buy our phones. We want to give them value.”

But it’s not enough to just “go digital.” As Carrie Frolich of ad agency Mediaedge:cia advises, “Remember why you’re advertising. You are not advertising for clicks. What you’re advertising for is to sell me stuff or change perception.”

Frolich’s insight gets at a major frustration marketers have encountered with their online advertising: they’re not getting real results as much as they’re getting meaningless metrics. Who cares how many clicks or ad impressions you achieve if they’re not translating into brand engagement and sales among target consumers?

That’s why leading-edge advertisers are changing the way they spend their digital dollars. Liz Miller, the CMO Marketing Council’s VP of programming and operations, notes that the ad spend trend this year is CMOs’ “… reallocating both their budget and talent into those areas that better engage and communicate with core audiences and customers.”

So we’re now seeing a more nuanced approach to online marketing: advertisers are going online, and they’re participating in what consumers are doing and offering incentives for them to engage with their brands. Increasingly, they’re devoting spend to interactive promotions. These are online marketing programs designed to drive measurable, immediate results, and they include online contests, sweepstakes, advergames, viral marketing and social networking programs.

A recent study by Borrell Associates forecasts that spending on interactive promotions will increase from $8 billion in 2008 to more than $22 billion by 2012—at which point it will overshadow spending on both online advertising and search marketing. Borrell forecasts that much of this growth will be powered by online contests and games.

Interactive promotions respect consumers’ new power and role in the marketplace. They value consumers as partners and participants, and entertain (e.g., an advergame) and reward them (e.g., the chance to win a prize) for agreeing to engage with a brand. Let’s face it, the chance to play and win is a vastly stronger call to action than a simple invitation to click through to a website.

What has marketers especially excited about interactive promotions is how easy they make it to gauge consumer response. Following are examples of the ways consumers could engage with an interactive promotion:

• They could spend time on the brand website
• They could refer friends to the brand site
• They could purchase the brand
• They could enter a UPC or other promotional code
• They could complete a survey, take a quiz, or view a product demo
• They could opt in for email or SMS communications from the brand
• They could post a weblink to the brand site on their social networks

With their capacity for driving engagement and for measuring consumer response, interactive promotions deliver on the promise of digital, the promise P&G global marketing officer Marc Pritchard summed up as “ … an incredible way to connect with consumers and really have much deeper ongoing relationships with them.”

For more ideas on getting the most from interactive promotions, register for our whitepapers “6 Ways to Motivate Consumers Using Interactive Promotions” and “Make Your Marketing Count: Best Practices for Driving and Measuring ROI from Interactive Promotions.”

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Source: DMNews, “Budgets Steady, Channels Shifting: CMO Council Study,” March 16, 2009. The study surveyed more than 650 worldwide marketers and was co-sponsored by Deloitte, Jigsaw and Ad-ology.

1. Execute Online

Executing online allows employees to access the contest from anywhere.  For companies that have employees in more than one location executing online ensures your contest can reach all employees.  Consider adding some fun content to your contest and employees may even participate from home!

2. Make sure your employees know about your contest

Be sure to use all available resources to drive employee participation.  Send out a dedicated email blast with a link to the contest.  Put promotional posters up on the wall and in meeting rooms.  Mention it at all staff meetings.  Create buzz by offering daily or weekly prizes and send out winner announcements.  Be creative and don’t miss an opportunity to remind your staff to participate.

3. Content is king

Just offering a prize isn’t enough to drive the results you’re looking for.  Incorporate some interactive content such as a quiz or a game to convey your messaging.  If you make it fun for employees to participate you’ll get much better results.

4. Choose relevant prizing

Be sure to offer prizing that is appealing to your employees.  If you’re trying to reach a diverse group, consider something as simple as a day off.  If you have the budget trips and cash are always compelling.

5. Dot your I’s and cross your T’s

Make sure to have your contest plans reviewed by your HR and Legal teams to make sure you’re not breaking any contest/gaming or labor laws.  Someone once said it’s better to be safe than sorry.  That was sage advice.

They launched an online sweeps in which they gave away one of their custom reliced guitars.  While that is nothing unique, their promotion strategy was brilliant.  Given their limited budget they needed to find some creative ways to generate awareness of the promotion.  Their solution was to award participants additional chances to win for:

1. Becoming a Rittenhouse Guitars Facebook Fan and writing “I want a Rittenhouse Guitar from www.RittenhouseGuitars.com”.  Of course when I did this the post showed up on my facebook page.  Because I am a guitar player I have a number of friends who are also guitar players.  Now Rittenhouse had a post on my page that all my guitarist friends could see.  And it cost them nothing to reach that target audience.

2. Follow Rittenhouse Guitars on Twitter and tweat the phrase “I want a custom guitar from Rittenhouse Guitars at www.rittenhouseguitars.com”.  Same principle applies.  They got access to their target audience for free.  Plus I could earn an additional entry for each day I tweated that phrase thus ensuring that my friends who weren’t on twitter when I tweated still saw my tweat .

3. Write a post about this giveway on your own blog.  (I suppose you could say I’m killing two birds with one stone!)

4. Purchase a custom Rittenhouse Guitar and get 5 entries.

5. Refer an order and get 5 entries.

The strategy, which is one we constantly use here at Launchfire, is to offer registrants value in exchange for their participation.  In this case, specifically offer value in exchange for help promoting the company and driving sales.  This is the type of common sense approach that will drive results.  Nice work RittenHouse Guitars.  I’d sure love to find out if your guitars are as good as your promotions.

Nugget #6

Common sense is remarkably uncommon.  Me.

1.       They’re magnetic
People are much more likely to click on a link or banner that promises to provide value to them. Advergames are magnetic because they offer an entertaining experience to consumers in exchange for their time.

2.       They are engaging
What would you pay to have a TV commercial that consumers wanted to watch repeatedly?  Advergames are that rare form of advertising that is actually addictive.  Consumers will spend hours playing a quality advergame, all the while being exposed to your key messaging.

3.       They cut through the clutter
Unlike most web pages you have sole possession of the advertising properties within an advergame.  In addition you have the game player’s undivided attention throughout the duration of the game.   Using advergame as a tactic means you don’t have to compete with other brands for the consumer’s attention.

4.       The have universal appeal
The common perception that games appeal mostly to young males is incorrect.  Different genres of games appeal to different demographics.  For example puzzle and word games get their best traction with 30 to 50 year old women while men prefer sport and action games.  Advergames can be used to reach virtually any target demographic as long as you know what genre will appeal to them.

5.       They’re re-usable
Unlike many other forms of collateral advergames can be re-used on future campaigns.  Well designed advergames can be re-skinned to incorporate new messaging and collateral at a fraction of the cost of ground up development.

6.       They educate
Advergames can be excellent tools for educating consumers.  Well designed advergames will convey your value propositions within actual game play ensuring better message recognition and retention.

7.       They’re viral
People are more apt share content that is fun and entertaining.  Advergames are viral because meet both of those criteria.

8.       They’re fun
It’s difficult to argue that advertising that is fun for your target audience is worse that advertising that isn’t.  Fun advertising will keep consumers engaged, creative a positive brand experience and increase the likelihood that consumers will share the experience with their friends.

Nugget #5:
“Today I met with a subliminal advertising executive for just asecond.”
–Steven Wright

Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer.  You land on the splash page of a One-pager and you see the prizing visuals, which makes sense because that is the only thing that might motivate you to register.  If the prizing is lame, you leave.  If the prizing is good, you sign up and then leave.  In both cases, the only thing you’re going to remember about the experience is the prizing.  The only value being offered is the prize, so once you’ve registered you leave.

From an advertiser’s perspective One-pagers  don’t make sense.  They waste a valuable opportunity to engage consumers.  They do little, if anything, to promote the sponsoring brand nor do they educate consumers about its value propositions.  They don’t drive repeat traffic or lengthy visit durations.  At best the advertiser will glean some consumer information and email addresses from a One-pager. 

If you are going to invest the money and effort (planning, development, prizing, legal services, fulfillment, media, etc.) required to execute a One-pager why stop short?  By adding some entertaining content you can keep consumers engaged and create a more impactful brand experience.  What’s more, if your content is good consumers can become addicted and end up spending hours interacting with your brand.  Once you have a captive audience you can broadcast messaging to motivate consumers to do any number of things such as opt in to your email, tell their friends, take a survey, etc.  That’s an awful lot of return for a small incremental expense. 

 Nugget #4: Good marketing is empathetic.  - Me

The well known OBEY artist has been often accused of plagiarism; the most recent accusation is of the popular Barack Obama HOPE poster seen during last year’s presidential campaign. According to the Associated Press, the poster was based on a photograph taken by Manny Garcia in April of 2006. The Associated Press claims they own the copyright of the photo, and wants credit and compensation for Fairey’s work.

As I researched this topic further, I learned that a second Obama poster is a perfect match to a picture taken by a photographer named Jim Young. Jim Young on the other hand is not bothered by the situation and is “honored”.

There seems to be contrasting opinions on this topic. Some people have lost respect for Fairey and feel that Jim Young should debate over the copyright issue. While others greatly admire Fairey’s take on pop culture, which has greatly influenced designers and common people all over the world.

My 2 cents: until this recent case, photographers like Garcia and Young were unknown to me. I am sure they have successful careers, however, I do not perceive them as artists who have pushed the boundaries and moved people across the world with their work. In my opinion, their photos are in no way unique and resemble every other political picture that has been captured. Fairey on the other hand, transformed bland photographs and opened everyone’s eyes to an iconic visual representation of Obama, which I believe will be long remembered. This is why people have spent thousands of dollars to own a copy of Fairey’s poster. I highly doubt anyone would have spent thousands of dollars on the original photographs.

I am looking forward to the results of this copy infringement case, as I believe it may influence the way designers will work. However, you can’t deny that Fairey’s message came across much stronger and was more successful.

Check out Fairey’s sites and other great blog posts on the story:

http://obeygiant.com/
http://www.obeyclothing.com/
http://www.supertouchart.com/2009/02/05/newspolitiksassociated-press-alleges-copyright-infringement-on-obama-campaign-artwork/
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9652OD01&show_article=1&catnum=8
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/01/shepard-fairey-obey-copyright.html
http://www.flickr.com/groups/stickertraders/discuss/72157613380097881/

I got to thinking about all of the great games I’ve played over the years and decided that I would throw in my two cents on the greatest games of all time. I’ll start by breaking games into categories and covering one category in each of a series of posts. Then I’ll try to pin down my all-time greatest games in a free-for-all list… quite a tall order.

So, let’s where it all started—the arcade classics!

5) Marble Madness        Released: 1984           Developer: Atari Games
Simply put, this game was like nothing ever seen before. Many impressed people thought it was 3D. While it was actually 2D, it did pioneer the use of isometric viewpoints to create what seemed like a 3D environment. It used a track ball to move a marble through a course, which was totally different from the joysticks and wheels used in all other arcade games at the time. Its lasting appeal lay in the fact that while anyone could play it, it took some serious skill to master. Marble Madness was hard—really, freakishly hard! But that was all part of the fun.

4) Space Invaders            Released: 1978                 Developer: Taito Corporation
I loved this game when I was little. Whenever I saw a Space Invaders machine, I was instantly drawn to it. To this day, I always try to have a copy that has been ported for the current systems. I ranked this game above many others like it because it marked the advent of space shooter-style games like Asteroids, Centipede and Defender.

3) Pac Man          Released: 1980                 Developer: Namco
Everyone everywhere has played this game, and for good reason. Its core goal—eat the dots, avoid the ghosts—was simple and made the game accessible to people of all ages. The addition of the four power dots that transformed the ghosts from predator to prey was ingenious and added an extra level of tactical thinking that solidified this game in history. The game’s only drawback (and probably why it didn’t make #1 on my list) is that it has a maximum possible score of 3,333,360. I never personally scored anywhere near that high, but I don’t think games should have a set best possible score. Although it did take someone almost 20 years to get the top score, that feat has now been repeated multiple times, which somewhat diminished the game’s allure.

2) PONG              Released: 1972                 Developer: Atari
PONG started the arcade game craze. It was the first commercially successful home entertainment unit. While the premise was not original—it was a variation of the table tennis game for the Magnavox Odyssey—it did some very special things which generated its mass appeal. First, the paddle was designed to deflect the ball at different angles depending on where it was hit. Second, the ball became faster over time, making the game more challenging and exciting. Third, ironically, a defect in one of the simple circuits made it impossible to get your paddle to the very top of the screen, allowing players to shoot for the “sweet spot” on their opponent’s screen. Finally, it was a simultaneous two-player game,  which led to feverish competition.

1) Donkey Kong                Released: 1981                 Developer: Nintendo
This choice might draw a lot of criticism, but this is my list. Donkey Kong is my top choice because it changed how people look at video games.

Donkey Kong’s biggest innovation was perhaps that it introduced a story, a plot, something more imaginative than a basic goal. The game also stood out in many other ways. It was one of the earliest games with more than one level design—each of its four stages was unique and presented different challenges. The animation was amazing for its time and held its own for many years. It used a randomizer to release the barrels, meaning that it played differently each time. Plus, in terms of numbers, it launched the world’s largest video game franchise (Super Mario) and provided the capital to get Nintendo, arguably the world’s greatest video game developer, off the ground. Result: the greatest classic arcade game ever.

I’m hoping to inspire some lively discussion with this series of posts. Go ahead and flame me in the comments section for leaving out your favourite game, then tell me why it should be on the list.  In my next post, I’ll move online with the best puzzlers and browser games. Will an advergame make the cut?

P.S. If you love old arcade games like I do, check out The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a wonderful documentary about a man named Steven Weibe who tries to beat a 20-year-old high score for Donkey Kong.

Flash has a little something called the wow factor. Movies, music, games, presentations—they can all be built with this powerful design tool. And they look great! Corporate presentations no longer need to be boring, stale or unattractive. Plus, Flash allows a high degree of interactivity to be built into content. Interactivity is a great way to keep audiences engaged and attentive. Instead of viewing flat, static content, people can play games, listen to music and watch animations. You can even make phone calls with Flash!

Even better, with the continuing surge in computer technologies, the capabilities of Flash software have expanded at a tremendous rate over the last little while. Using Adobe CS4 and Flash Player 10, developers can now produce richer content than ever, and in less time.

Together, the wow factor and speed make Flash an invaluable tool here at Launchfire. By incorporating Flash’s recent developments into our promotions, we can produce fresh, dynamic and cutting-edge work that’s great to look at and fun to play. Our advergames and instant wins even have the potential to be rendered in 3D, which grants players dynamic perspective! By staying in tune with the global Flash community, Launchfire’s Flash team can continually deliver awesome products that deliver real value and entertainment to the target audience.

It’s never been a better time to work with Flash. As a developer, I enjoy capitalizing on the recent boom in web technologies. I can produce content that I’m proud of, which lets both gamers and consumers easily interact and have fun with my work.

If you’re writing a novel or other literary work, you may want to use longer sentences or uncommon phrasing to set the appropriate mood. But if you’re writing instructions on how to play the Super Online Putt-Putt advergame, well, you want players to get the ball in the hole. Below are some easy ways to cut wordiness.

Eliminate redundancy. Redundancy is when the same idea is expressed repeatedly and unnecessarily.
We worked until 3 a.m. in the morning = We worked until 3 a.m.
The budget is estimated at approximately $10,000 = The budget is estimated at $10,000
We were surrounded on all sides = We were surrounded
This species of turtle is rare and seldom seen = This species of turtle is rare

Use verbs where possible. The English language contains many concepts that can be expressed as different parts of speech (such as the noun practice and the verb practise). Often, the verb form can get your idea across using fewer words.
Set aside time in the schedule for the meeting = Schedule the meeting
I submitted an application for the job =  I applied for the job
Joe was the winner of the contest = Joe won the contest
Conduct follow-up on the promotion = Follow up on the promotion

Use stand-alone prepositions instead of prepositional phrases. A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. A prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs.
with the exception of = except
in close proximity to = near
up to the point where = until
in the field of = in

Restructure sentences to avoid starting them with the filler phrases “it is,” “there is,” and “there are.” These often delay the sentence’s true subject and verb.
It is expensive to upgrade the server = Upgrading the server is expensive
It is important that you bill the client = Remember to bill the client
There is a possibility that the budget will be cut = The budget may be cut
There are three phases in the design project = The design project has three phases

Replace passive verbs with active verbs. In passive constructions, the subject of the sentence is being acted upon; in active constructions, the subject is the actor.
Additional prizing is being considered by the client = The client is considering additional prizing
The report will be presented by Jane next week = Jane will present her report next week
The sweepstakes will be launched in the US tomorrow = The US sweepstakes launches tomorrow
The layout was created by Denzel = Denzel created the layout

Stay tuned for my next post, in the same vein as this one: ten-dollar words and when (not) to use them.