On Monday evening, I went to CIMTIG’s seminar on Viral Marketing – the good, the bad, the ugly, which was put on to help educate those in the travel sector. I was both intrigued and baffled by the title and I am always keen to hear other opinions and case studies from both clients and other travel marketing agency representatives, so I decided to go along to see what I could learn.

What was fascinating was that we heard 4 speakers, each with very different ideas and views of viral marketing.

Elliot Pritchard – P&O Ferries

Elliot stated that for a travel marketing agency, viral marketing can be successful as long as it includes good ideas, bad news or ugly puns. Elliot focused on the importance of keeping your overall objectives in mind when working on a viral marketing campaign, as the quality of your results is always more important than the quantity, a sentiment that I strongly agree with. Elliot used P&O’s ‘Inspector Cruiso’ campaign to illustrate his points.

Daniel Kennedy – SKV Communications

Daniel advocated the use of video as a viral tool. Using the analogy of a delicate balance that exists between old and new, he implied that video was both the latest and the most effective way of spreading material. To illustrate his point, he used a video that had been extremely successful for him, ‘Blackpool Je t’aime.’ Interestingly however, Daniel freely admitted that the video that he had created was perhaps not actually viral marketing in itself. What had turned it into a viral tool, was the talkability aspect of it.

Stuart Howarth – KoKo Digital

Stuart focused on the benefits of using gaming as a form of viral marketing. Pointing out that viral videos were an area becoming quickly saturated, with 90% of all video content on the Internet being watched via YouTube, Stuart suggested viral games as a more engaging and involving way of spreading marketing material. However, as he recognised, it is crucial to keep your objectives in mind, and get the balance between advertising and entertainment spot on.

Molly Flatt - 1000 Heads

Molly opened with a warning that “word of mouth kicks viral’s ass.” Describing it as a parasite, she suggested that whilst viral marketing spreads material, it does not encourage conversation. Molly advocated 2-way dialogue centers around people sharing their thoughts and opinions via passionate and interesting conversation, which is something we strongly believe in at LeadGenerators. Using the Cadbury’s advert, Molly demonstrated that to initiate prolonged conversation, viral material must be relevant to your product.

Long live the Marketing Manager!

So, I hear you ask, did I learn something new that I can take back to a travel marketing agency HQ? Yes, I learned that the marketing manager is increasingly dominating online marketing - thank goodness for that!

You see, while each speaker offered a different tool or focus for what is important in viral marketing, the real lesson (and they all touched on this in their own way) is that it is about communicating and achieving marketing objectives. And this is so refreshing to hear.

Remember the days when the techies dominated online marketing?

In those days the focus would have been on trying to impress us with how clever they were as programming technicians, how many views it generated, how long people stayed on site, etc. In today’s more mature world of online marketing, one increasingly dominated by marketing managers, we are hearing the more important focus is that of marketing communication, quality of results (instead of quantity) and those all important marketing objectives. Moreover, we are seeing that good, interesting and useful content is the priority of marketing managers and some of the better agencies.

So, for my grand finale …. my definition of viral marketing!

Well, the dictionary definition of course relates to marketing material that spreads by word of mouth or over the Internet. However, if asked to write a definition of successful viral marketing, I would say that it was the spreading of relevant material, which captures the imagination, can fuel and sustain a conversation and works in line with your marketing objectives. These factors appear to be the real key to successful viral marketing.

Anyone else got a good definition of viral marketing?

Also, don’t forget to have a look at the photo gallery and see if you were snapped at the event.