Letting the orgasm find you
The ‘V’ word has been coming up all over the place in recent months, in communications meetings and marketing departments around the globe (er…Viral – why what were you thinking?). All of them hoping for that runaway success story where their company/product/message gets plastered all over the worlds inboxes for the cost of 60 second video. Well – hope is a good thing, but it better not be all you’ve got. So how does viral marketing succeed in B2B?
The thing is, nobody can guarantee that something will go viral. Oh we can make a guess, have a gut feeling perhaps, but we’ll never know unless we actually spend the money. There are things that can help, like a great idea, a great seeding plan, and a huge database. But even then, especially in the world of business, the results can be disappointing. Who the hell wants to pass on a video about choosing a password? Actually – more people than you’d imagine – but not because it’s just about choosing a password.
Then I wondered about the theory of the orgasm. At least the female one (there’s no theory attached to the guys orgasm at all…). Apparently, if you chase it too much it will go away. It simply finds you. That’s the theory anyway. Of course, you need to be doing the right things, but in the end there’s no guarantee. And just when it looks like it will be a certainty, something can happen – a thought – a noise – a nudge in the wrong direction – and it’s gone.
So how does that help me? I hear you ask. Especially if I’m in B2B where we’re scared to death of making mistakes and getting ridiculed for jumping on bandwagons. Well, this is what I believe.
If you want the whole world to see your viral idea, then you do have a challenge – unless you’re Susan Boyle. But what if you only want to attract and communicate with 400 IT managers in the UK. Maybe then we can think about making the relevance work for us. Targeting. That’s the key. If it’s funny, sexy or violent, and it re
Ah - found it!
lates specifically to that group of people – it’s unlikely there’s going to be anything else to touch it, and that’s why it will be noticed and that’s why it will get passed on. If you can engineer a message within it (and remember there’s funny, there’s a message, and there’s a funny message) so much the better.
The chances of it going viral are hugely increased if it is so specifically mapped onto a target audience they relate to it as individuals. This is why ‘Dilbert’ worked, and ‘The Office’. People in offices knew the language and the issues on a very personal level. A comedy about like as a toll booth operator would probably get watched by a great many toll booth operators. If these are the people you need – you’ve won.
So if you are chasing that orgasm, concentrate on the mind, not the body. Be specific.
Just don’t try too hard.
What do you think? Can a viral be niche? Does it matter if everyone sees it? Let me know if you find any good examples of business virals.
