FINAL PROJECT REPORT ON

“A Study of Viral Marketing as a

Promotional Tool”Submitted for partial fulfillment of the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

Mrs. Rupa Rathee

Submitted To: Submitted By:

HINDU INSTITUTE OF MGT RAMPAL

ROLL NO-40

[AFFILIATED TO M.D. UNIVERSITY (ROHTAK)]

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ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER NO.

TOPIC PAGE NO.

DECLARATIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

1.INTRODUCTION

1-8

Significance of the study 3

Review of existing literature 4

Conceptualization 5

Focus of study 6

Objective of the study 8

Hypothesis

2.INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

history 9

Type of viral message 12

Principal of viral marketing 21

Diagnosis 25

Impact 29

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research design 36

2

Collection of data37

Sampling39

4.DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

40

SWOT Analysis42

PESTE analysis46

Questionnaire Analysis52

5. FINDING& OBSERVATION

53

.6CONCLUSION

54

7. RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

55

8.Limitation

56

Questionnaire Sample57

Bibliography59

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DECLARATION

I Rampal Roll No.(inwords) Fourty M.B.A Final year (IV semester) of

Hindu Institute of Management hereby declare that the Final Project Report

entitled A Study Of Viral Marketing As A promotional Tool is an original

work and the same has not been submitted to any other institute for the

award of any other degree. A seminar presentation of the Training Report

was made on ________ and the suggestions as approved by the faculty were

duly incorporated.

PRESENTATION INCHARGE SIGNATURE OF THE CANDIDATE

Mrs. Rupa Rathi Rampal

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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It gives me immense pleasure to acknowledge my appreciation to all those

who were involved directly or indirectly in the genesis of this report.

I place my deep sense of gratitude and sincere thanks to H.I.M College,

sonepat for providing me an opportunity to work and undertake this project.

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PREFACES

People’s ideas without an action based on them means nothing. We can say

that practical training is the essential part of managerial courses. Theoretical

studies in the class room are not sufficient to understand the function’s

climate and the real problem comes in the way of people such as cable

operator services, effect of advertisements, rent of viral marketing. So,

practical exposures are indispensable to such courses. Thus, practical

training acts as a supplement to the classroom studies. It offers an exposure

to do the real work of management in various organizations .

It was my fortune to work of this project a very healthy atmosphere. I learnt

a lot of new things which I could never been learnt from theory classes.

This project includes the perception of people profile toward viral marketing

through market survey and research.

The overall knowledge gained by me will show in the report itself.

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INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

Viral market ing

Def ini t ion

Market ing phenomenon tha t fac i l i ta tes and encourages

people to pass a long a market ing message .

Information

Vira l market ing depends on a h igh pass-a long ra te f rom

person to person. I f a la rge percentage of rec ip ients

forward something to a la rge number of f r iends , the

overa l l growth snowbal ls very quickly . I f the pass-a long

numbers ge t too low, the overa l l growth quickly f izz les .

At the he ight of B2C i t seemed as i f every s tar tup had a

v i ra l component to i t s s t ra tegy, or a t leas t c la imed to have

one . However , re la t ive ly few market ing v i ruses achieve

success on a sca le s imi lar to Hotmai l , widely c i ted as the

f i rs t example of v i ra l market ing .

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Viral market ing i s a technique tha t uses word of

mouth or emai l to reach and af fec t an audience . Some

forms of v i ra l market ing have exis ted for centur ies . They

are ment ioned in annals of Greek Athenian h is tor ies and

are a common s t ra tegy in market ing and media re la t ions

techniques .

The goal of a v i ra l marketer i s to crea te " buzz" about a

product or idea , so tha t the idea spreads widely . I f

e f fec t ive , v i ra l market ing may requi re very l i t t le e f for t on

the par t of the propagandis t , as the rec ip ients of the

message become the pr imary agents who spread i t to o ther

people . On the o ther hand, the weakes t th ing about th is

form of market ing i s tha t i t i s hard to cont ro l . Like the

" te lephone game" tha t chi ldren p lay , the message may

change as i t passes f rom ear to ear .

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

o To get the knowledge about the viral marketing.

o Types of businesses carried through the marketing.

o Assessing individual expectation and abilities.

o Assessing immediate and long-term benefits through viral

marketing.

o To study the effect of viral marketing.

o To know that how viral marketing Works so efficiently in a

fast manner and succeeding day by day.

o To find the general solution to the problems of this marketing

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REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

SOURCE 1: BUISENESS WORLDAre Indian Market research underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many of the creative arts enterprises knows about channel activation for viral marketing business.

SOURCE 2: Indian journal of marketing0(August,2007)

What is VIral marketing?

It provides knowledge about rural marketing and how it can be useful for

farmers and rural person. Wholesale houses operate outlets for their wares,

and farmers sell their products through their own wholesale cooperatives.

Recent years have seen the development of wholesale clubs, which sell retail

items to consumers who purchase memberships that give them the privilege

of shopping at wholesale prices.

SOURCE 3 (India Today)

Business & Economy.( dated 19dec 2005, page no 39)

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viral Marketing methods are informed by many of the social sciences,

particularly psychology, sociology, and economics. Anthropology is also a

small, but growing, influence.

SOURCE 4

HINDUSTHAN TIMES OF 25th Nov2005,

At all points of the viral marketing system people have formed associations

and eliminated various middlemen in order to achieve more efficient

marketing. Manufacturers often maintain their own wholesale departments

and deal directly with retailers. Independent stores may operate their own

wholesale agencies to supply them with goods.

Source 5.www.clickZ.com

Advertising in viral marketing

The activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or

service. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people.

People who work in viral marketing departments of companies try to get the

attention of target audiences by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity

endorsements and general media exposure. The four 'Ps' of marketing are

product, place, price and promotion

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CONCEPTUALIZATION

I f you are going to spread the message over the In ternet , you

want to e l iminate a l l potent ia l technica l problems. With the

mass ive spread of v i ruses t roubl ing computers wor ldwide ,

you should avoid us ing a t tachments in the message you want

spread. The fac t i s , many people won ' t open them, the f i le

s ize could be too la rge , and many corpora t ions put up

secur i ty mechanisms tha t don ' t a l low the i r employees to

open up cer ta in a t tachments . A s imple resolut ion to tha t

problem is to point the person to a l ink . I t a l lows the ac tua l

emai l message to be smal ler and e l iminates most potent ia l

technica l concerns . Also , t ry to avoid the use of any plug-

ins tha t would be necessary to have in order to v iew your

message .

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FOCUS OF PROBLEM

In India companies are s t i l l us ing the t radi t ional methods of

the adver t i s ing tha t i s reaching to the cus tomer in the

t radi t ional ways whi le in res t of wor ld , which i s fa r ahead

us ing o ther in terac t ive methods of the adver t i s ing . Now a

days af ter every s ix months the methods and technology

changed. In th is fas t changing scenar io i t i s very d i f f icul t to

have every b i t of knowledge about the new technology. The

companies providing ce l lu lar services in th is h ighly

compet i t ive wor ld , cos t of the service i s the only fac tor ,

which governs a l l the apprehensions .

Increased comput ing power has permi t ted the media to a l te r

i t s very na ture . With the advent and accelera ted d ispers ion

of technology through socie ty , media has become less of a

mass ins t i tu t ion , where a l l e f for ts a re a imed a t providing the

most widely appeal ing news, enter ta inment and informat ion,

to a h ighly cus tomized indust ry able to supply very narrow

windows in to the vas t news and enter ta inment of fer ings now

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avai lable . No longer do thousands of copies of ident ica l

content c rea te unbeatable economies of sca le in product ion

cos ts . Smal l and large media f i rms can provide se lec t ive

content to a se lec t ive audience wi th reasonable ef f ic iency.

New media types have been crea ted to sa t i s fy the wants of

se lec t groups of consumers . Old media have been a l te red and

revamped to meet new, more exact ing , consumer demands .

This has resul ted in fundamenta l ly d i f ferent in ter faces

be tween media and consumers .

The Problems

What i s the market potent ia l for the new medium of

adver t i s ing?

1. What are the charac ter i s t ics of the ta rge t cus tomers?

2. What are the des i rable charac ter i s t ics of the new service?

3. What methods should be used to promote the v i ra l

market ing as a new medium of cus tomer in terac t ion?

4. How to cope up with the new changing demands of the market?

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The s ta tement of problem formula ted var ious research

ques t ions . The objec t ives of a projec t a re a lways to f ind out

the answers to the research problems re la ted to the f ie ld .

To unders tand what a re the oppor tuni t ies and scope of v i ra l

market ing . Moreover what they are doing in order to serve

the i r cus tomers , c l ients as wel l as fu ture prospects in be t te r

and in most e f fec t ive manner , which in turn he lp them in

increas ing the i r market share , and prof i tabi l i ty by providing

va lue for money & des i red qual i ty of service to the i r

cus tomers . Moreover projec t ion of cus tomer’s need wel l in

advance and us ing proper medium to communica te & educate

the i r cus tomers to make maximum use of avai lable services

and offers . .

The Object ives Of This Project Are Given Below: -

To understand present level of viral marketing for different category

To spread the information by networking to the public at low cost.

To identify the reasons of less response of the public toward the viral

marketing.

To develop strategy of improving channel activation for viral

marketing.

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History

Some argue the te rm vi ra l market ing was or ig ina l ly invented by Tim Draper and coined by venture capi ta l i s t S teve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1997 to descr ibe Hotmai l ' s e -mai l prac t ice of appending adver t i s ing for themselves to outgoing mai l f rom the i r users .

The f i rs t to wr i te about v i ra l market ing was media cr i t ic Douglas Rushkoff in h is 1994 book Media Virus . The assumpt ion i s tha t i f such an adver t i sement reaches a "suscept ib le" user , tha t user wi l l become " infec ted" ( i .e . , s ign up for an account) and can then go on to infec t o ther suscept ib le users . As long as each infec ted user sends mai l to more than one suscept ib le user on average ( i .e . , the bas ic reproduct ive ra te i s grea ter than one) , s tandard in epidemiology imply tha t the number of infec ted users wi l l grow according to a logis t ic curve , whose in i t ia l segment appears exponent ia l .4 months ago

Vira l market ing was a term or ig inal ly coined by venture capi ta l is t Steve Jurvetson to descr ibe the unique referra l -market ing program created by Hotmai l , one of the f i rs t f ree e-mai l serv ices.

Steve Jurvetson (bio ) is [2005] the Managing Director of 'Draper F isher Jurvetson' www.df j .com (a premier venture capi ta l f i rm). This f i rm has created a g lobal network of af f i l ia ted venture funds wi th over $3 b i l l ion in capi ta l commitments and of f ices in the major technology centers around the wor ld.  

How Jurvetson helped Hotmai l spread using Vira l Market ing:

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Hotmai l would inc lude a promot ional l ine for i ts f ree e-mai l serv ices at the bot tom of every message. Users of Hotmai l were automat ical ly promot ing the f ree serv ice to thei r f r iends and col leagues every t ime they sent an e-mai l message. The f ree serv ice spread l ike a v i rus, and Hotmai l repor tedly received 12 mi l l ion new subscr ibers wi th in 18 months of i ts launch f rom th is s imple technique! ! ! Draper F isher Jurvetson reported that Hotmai l spent less than $500,000 on market ing, advert is ing and promot ion dur ing th is per iod whi le i ts nearest compet i tor , Juno, spent $20 mi l l ion for a f ract ion of the subscr ibers. Thus, i t was or ig inal ly Hotmai l , who developed the concept of v i ra l market ing.

Martin says "Through my subscr ipt ion to the Globe and Mai l , I came across an ar t ic le in last Thursdays business sect ion (Oct . 27th edi t ion, page B13) regarding the use of v i ra l market ing campaigns to d is t r ibute creat ive and unique content us ing the Internet .  

The ar t ic le descr ibes how the "Organic Trade Associat ion" asked a market ing agency to design a short f i lm for thei r message of food and agr icu l tura l issues in a l ighthearted way. The resul t was a Star Wars spoof cal led "Store Wars: The Organic Rebel l ion" that has been v iewed by 10 mi l l ion people wi th in 4 months due to v i ra l market ing. There 's even an incredib le quote f rom the communicat ions d i rector of the OTA stat ing " I t was amazing how quick ly i t went around the wor ld. . . I got emai l f rom people who wanted to t ranslate the work in to Japanese, Portuguese, German, Polish and Spanish within 48 hours of the films launch." Amazing stuff.

Student Martin Braedy, in BCS 555 in October 2005, found a good newspaper story that discusses the origins of Viral Marketing.

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Viral Marketing

Vira l market ing and vi ra l adver t i s ing refer to market ing techniques tha t use pre-exis t ing socia l ne tworks to produce increases in brand awareness , through se l f - repl ica t ing v i ra l processes , analogous to the spread of pa thologica l and computer v i ruses . I t can be word-of-mouth de l ivered or enhanced by the ne twork ef fec ts of the In ternet . Vira l market ing i s a market ing phenomenon tha t fac i l i ta tes and encourages people to pass a long a market ing message voluntar i ly . Vira l promot ions may take the form of funny video c l ips , in terac t ive Flash games , adver t i se games , images .

I t i s c la imed tha t a sa t i s f ied cus tomer te l l s an average of three people about a product or service he /she l ikes , and e leven people about a product or service which he /she d id not l ike . Vira l market ing i s based on th is na tura l human behaviour .

The te rm "vi ra l market ing" i s a l so somet imes used pe jora t ive ly , to refer to s tea l th market ing campaigns , the use of var ied k inds of as t ro turf ing both onl ine and off l ine to crea te the impress ion of spontaneous word of mouth enthus iasm.

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Types of viral messages

1. Pass-along

A message a t the bot tom of an e-mai l tha t prompts the reader to pass i t a long (eg . chain le t te rs ) . The success of th is method depends on how in teres t ing or exci t ing or be l ievable the message .

2. Incentivised viral

Offer ing rewards for provid ing someone's address. This can dramat ical ly increase referra ls . However, th is is most ef fect ive when the of fer requires another person to take act ion. Most onl ine contests of fer more chances of winning for each referra l g iven; but when the referra l must a lso par t ic ipate in order for the f i rs t person to obta in that ext ra chance of winning, the chance that the referra l par t ic ipates is much h igher.

3. Undercover AKA Stealth Marketing

A vi ra l message presented as a cool or unusual page, act iv i ty or p iece of news, wi thout obvious inc i tements to l ink or pass-along. Part icu lar ef for t is made to make the d iscovery of the i tem seem spontaneous and informal , to encourage natura l memet ic behaviour . Outs ide wor ld "c lues" , such as graf f i t i appear ing in c i t ies wi th key v i ra l words, is of ten used to d i rect people to search out the presented "mystery" . Because of the large amount of unusual and enter ta in ing content on the internet , th is can be the hardest type of v i ra l to spot , especia l ly as companies t ry to imi tate the sty le and content of amateur websi tes and authent ic underground movements.

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4. "Edgy gossip/Buzz Marketing"

Ads or messages that create controversy by challenging the borders of taste or appropriateness. Discussion of the resulting controversy can be considered to generate buzz and word of mouth advertising. Prior to releasing a movie, some Hollywood movie stars get married, get divorced, or get arrested, or become involved in some controversy that directs conversational attention them. An example is the publicity campaign about the dubious love affair between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes that came out just before each of them released a movie, or the controversy over who would be named the next James Bond. 

5. Anonymous matching

This service requires each user to create a confidential list of friends and acquaintances they are interested in dating. A match only occurs if the object of their affection reciprocates by logging in and placing them on their own secret list; thus, each user has an incentive to get their crushes to visit the site. Most of these services allow users to email recipients anonymous messages informing them that an undisclosed person has a crush on them. On eCRUSH, one system using this methodology, 20% of the email recipients start accounts of their own. A Business 2.0 article noted, "eCrush is intrinsically viral – hopeful romantics become eCrush marketers as they try to find out if their crushes return their ardor" 

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Advantage OF Viral Marketing

The advantages of viral marketing are low costs, great reach, high credibility, high efficiency and the possibility of continuous campaign adjustments. The downfalls of viral marketing include the extent of the reach of failed campaigns, the lack of control, risks that the viral message is perceived as spam and the limited possibility for segmentation.

   o Cheap and low cost (there's no printing involved!)    o Extensive reach    o High credibility    o High efficiency  

Pitfalls - things to avoid  o Brand Dilution  o Association with unknown groups  o Avoid making purely financial-based offer  o Large-scale spam issues

Brand Dilution Viral marketing depends upon people not versed in your brand to do the "selling" for you. It is important to carefully craft a message that is strong enough to endure misinterpretations or make your communication brandless.

Association with unknown groups Viral marketing's strength is its potential to spread exponentially from person to person. During this process, it is possible that your message could wind up in the hands of and passed on by someone you would rather not be associated with. The only way to partially counter this is to ahead of time define and limit what information you make available for your viral marketing.

Avoid making purely financial-based offer

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Spam threats

If done poorly, viral marketing can lead to large-scale spam issues. Consider a company that pays individuals to email their friends to convince them to buy one of its products. In this case, the individual who receives the email had only given the friend permission to send email of a personal nature. The one friend's receiving an unsolicited commercial email can weaken his or her relationship with the person who sent it. This can lead to the recipient of the email dropping a friend and becoming angry with the marketer for sending an unsolicited message. Flames may result, leading to damage to the advertiser's reputation. In some cases, individuals who want to earn more money simply go out and spam people. This can be problematic for your company image

Viral Marketing is the hot topic at the moment, but many don’t really understand what the term means. As this is an internet based business, and therefore Internet Marketing, we need to look at it in internet terms.

You know when someone sends you a joke on email and it’s a good one you want to pass it on. From your mailbox you open your list of friends names and post the joke on to everyone you know, or everyone on your “joke list”, a list of people you pass jokes on to.

Next time you do this, have a scroll down the email to see the list of people it has come from at the head of each mailing. Each person who sent the joke on will have sent it to everyone on their “joke list”. You’ll see quite a few names you’ll recognize, some of who will be on your own list.

This is “Viral” – the joke has been passed on like a virus – from person to person. Everyone they come in contact with has passed it on to everyone else they know.

The trick with viral marketing is to duplicate that process with your products and the business opportunity itself – pass your store’s website URL on to

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everyone who cleans their house or takes nutritional supplements, or who might, and get them to do the same with everyone they know.

Also , a lo t of people who s tar t us ing the products a re going to want to ge t the products a t wholesa le . So they want the i r own s tore . So they s ign up under you! And you get the commiss ion not only on what they buy, but on anything people they know buy f rom them, and for anyone who s igns up under them, who wi l l be in your second l ine!

So, jus t as you send a joke you get to your “ joke l i s t” , you need to ge t the b iz opp to anyone who has a b iz opp l i s t . Congra tu la t ions , you have jus t been!Market ing tools

Why use market ing tools? A lo t of people on the Net a ren’ t looking to jo in a program, they are a l ready in one . I t doesn’ t mat ter tha t ours i s be t te r than the i rs , i f they never look a t the opp and consider i t , they a in’ t gonna s ignup.

What we can g ive them however i s a way to market what they are a l ready se l l ing . So we offer them our market ing tools . In doing so , they jo in our downl ine for tha t program, and so does anyone e lse they s ign up. This g ives us market ing methods to ge t our b iz opp out to people who DO want to see i t ! Remember the analogy ear l ie r about the joke l i s t? What you have there i s a l i s t of people you send jokes to . How did you bui ld tha t l i s t? Your l i s t of f r iends who you send jokes to . How did you get on the l i s t of someone e lse , the person who sent you the joke?

What you need to bui ld for your b iz opp i s what i s known as an “opt in” l i s t . This i s a l i s t of people who have chosen to jo in your l i s t to rece ive informat ion f rom you.

Bui ld ing a l i s t i s v i ta l for many reasons .

SPAM is the f i rs t and foremost – i t i s i l legal to send spam – unsol ic i ted emai l to people who haven’ t asked for i t and

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didn’ t want i t . Junk mai l .

Despi te the legal ramif ica t ions , look a t the bas ic logic . Why send your b iz opp to someone who doesn’ t want to see i t? Why send a le t te r to someone who wi l l jus t b in i t wi thout even opening i t? Why send an emai l wi th a l ink to your s i te i f the person rece iv ing i t doesn’ t want to know so won’ t even go look a t i t?

You may have the bes t b iz in the wor ld and se l l the hot tes t products but i f you can’ t ge t people to i t , you aren’ t going to make a sa le!

So we use l i s tbui ld ing tools so tha t you have people to send your b iz opp to! These are known as VLBs – Vira l Lis t Bui lders .

And a grea t way to adver t i se your VLB is on a Traff ic Exchange program – a TE, Surf Exchange, Surf 4 Hi ts , e tc . (What’s in a name?)

Once you have a l i s t of people who opted in to hear f rom you, and you have made in i t ia l contac t and bui l t up a re la t ionship , then you can show them a b iz opp tha t works for you, and then he lp them bui ld the i r own business .Congra tu la t ions - you 've jus t become a mentor!

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categories

adver t i s ing metr icsadver t i s ing speci f ica t ionsaff i l ia te market ingbusiness and ebusinesscontent and communi tycont rovers ia l market ingdomain namesemai l market ingfree web s i te promot ionl inking s t ra tegyonl ine adver t i s ingsearch engine market ingweb des ign and market ingweb s i te hos t ing

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Principles of Viral Marketing

I admit it . The term "viral marketing" is offensive. Cal l yourself a Viral Marketer and people wil l take two steps back. I would. "Do they have a vaccine for that yet?" you wonder. A sinister thing, the simple virus is fraught with doom, not quite dead yet not ful ly al ive, it exists in that nether genre somewhere between disaster movies and horror f l icks.

But you have to admire the virus. He has a way of l iving in secrecy unti l he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase his tr ibe. And in the r ight environment, he grows exponential ly. A virus don't even have to mate -- he just repl icates, again and again with geometrical ly increasing power, doubling with each iteration:

111

111111111111

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

In a few short generations, a virus population can explode.

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Viral Marketing DefinedWhat does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multipl ication to explode the message to thousands, to mil l ions.Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," " leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it 's cal led "viral marketing." While others smarter than I have attempted to rename it, to somehow domesticate and tame it, I won't try. The term "viral marketing" has stuck.

The Classic Hotmail .com ExampleThe classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail .com, one of the f irst free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:

1. Give away free e-mail addresses and services, 2. Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every

free message sent out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail .com" and,

3. Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of fr iends and associates,

4. Who see the message, 5. Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and

then 6. Propel the message sti l l wider to their own

ever- increasing circles of fr iends and associates.

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Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail .com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are l ikely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

1. Gives away products or services 2. Provides for effort less transfer to others 3. Scales easi ly from small to very large 4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors 5. Uti l izes existing communication networks 6. Takes advantage of others' resources

Let's examine at each of these elements brief ly.

1. Gives away valuable products or services"Free" is the most powerful word in a marketer's vocabulary. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention. Free e-mail services, free information, free "cool" buttons, free software programs that perform powerful functions but not as much as you get in the "pro" version. Wilson's Second Law of Web Marketing is "The Law of Giving and Sel l ing" (http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/basic-principles.htm). "Cheap" or " inexpensive" may generate a wave of interest, but "free" wil l usual ly do it much faster. Viral marketers practice delayed gratif ication. They may not profit today, or tomorrow, but i f they can generate a groundswell of interest from something free, they know they wil l profit "soon and for the rest of their l ives" (with apologies to "Casablanca").

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Patience, my fr iends. Free attracts eyeballs. Eyeballs then see other desirable things that you are sel l ing, and, presto! you earn money. Eyeballs bring valuable e-mail addresses, advertising revenue, and e-commerce sales opportunit ies. Give away something, sel l something.

2. Provides for effort less transfer to othersPublic health nurses offer sage advice at f lu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they're easy to transmit. The medium that carries your marketing message must be easy to transfer and repl icate: e-mail , website, graphic, software download. Viral marketing works famously on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easi ly and without degradation. Short is better. The classic is: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail .com." The message is compell ing, compressed, and copied at the bottom of every free e-mail message.

3. Scales easi ly from small to very largeTo spread l ike wildf ire the transmission method must be rapidly scalable from small to very large. The weakness of the Hotmail model is that a free e-mail service requires its own mailservers to transmit the message. I f the strategy is wildly successful, mailservers must be added very quickly or the rapid growth wil l bog down and die. I f the virus multipl ies only to ki l l the host before spreading, nothing is accomplished. So long as you have planned ahead of t ime how you can add

29

mailservers rapidly you're okay. You must bui ld in scalabi l i ty to your viral model.

4. Exploits common motivat ions and behaviorsClever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. What prol i ferated "Netscape Now" buttons in the early days of the Web? The desire to be cool. Greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The result ing urge to communicate produces mil l ions of websites and bi l l ions of e-mail messages. Design a marketing strategy that bui lds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, and you have a winner.

5. Uti l izes exist ing communication networksMost people are social . Nerdy, basement-dwell ing computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tel l us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of fr iends, family, and associates. A person's broader network may consist of scores, hundreds, or thousands of people, depending upon her posit ion in society. A waitress, for example, may communicate regularly with hundreds of customers in a given week. Network marketers have long understood the power of these human networks, both the strong, close networks as well as the weaker networked relationships. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They col lect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Aff i l iate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail l ists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.

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6. Takes advantage of others' resourcesThe most creative viral marketing plans use others' resources to get the word out. Aff i l iate programs, for example, place text or graphic l inks on others' websites. Authors who give away free articles, seek to posit ion their art icles on others' webpages. A news release can be picked up by hundreds of periodicals and form the basis of art icles seen by hundreds of thousands of readers. Now someone else's newsprint or webpage is relaying your marketing message. Someone else's resources are depleted rather than your own.

The Diagnosis

31

What is it?Many individuals and companies coin their own terms and/or programs to capture the essence of the various alternative marketing approaches they choose to deploy; however, for the purpose of this paper, when discussing viral marketing, other terms such as word-of-mouth, word-of-mouse, buzz marketing, and stealth marketing are commonly used. “Viral Communication defines strategies that allow an easier, accelerated, and cost reduced transmission of messages by creating environments for self-replicating, exponentially increasing diffusion, spiritualization, and impact of the message” (Welker, 2002, p.4).Word-of-mouth (WOM) has been described as the “world’s most effective, yet least understood marketing strategy” (Misner, 1994, p.26). In the marketing context, it is the informal exchange of positive and negative information between individuals about a particular product or service. Negative WOM has been documented to spread quicker than positive WOM making it “a fearful phenomenon to marketers who cannot grant 100% customer satisfaction, and a two-edged sword as informal discussions among consumers can make or break a product” (Helm, 159). To further support the power of WOM, Grewal, Cline, and Davies (2003) describe how it “forms the basis of interpersonal communications and significantly influences product evaluations and purchase decisions” and that “WOM has been shown to be more powerful than printed information because WOM information is considered to be more credible” (p. 188).Electronic word-or-mouth (EWOM) or word-of-mouse is basically the extension of traditional WOM on the Internet. Various websites such as: Epinions.com, Bizrate.com, Ciao.com, and Dooyoo.com all provide forums where consumers can discuss and rate various products and services illustrating the power of the exchange of communication in an online environment.Helm (2000) says that viral marketing is “a communication and distribution concept that relies on customers to transmit digital products via electronic mail to other potential customers in their social sphere and to animate these contacts to also transmit the products” (p. 159). It based on the idea that people simply enjoy passing on entertaining or informative content. Viral messages can come in various forms. They can be as simple as text at the bottom of an email to encourage the passing along of the message or an online contest offering incentives for providing friends’ email addresses or they can be more complex in the form of elaborate interactive games, quirky commercials, or other amusing video clips. Howard (2005) states:

32

Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) discuss how viral stealth marketing is “word of mouth” through a digital platform. They state, “It involves spreading the message via ‘word of mouse’ and ensuring that the receivers have the interest to pass along the message to their acquaintances” (p.9).Thomas (2004) feels ‘buzz marketing’ has superseded the term ‘viral marketing’ and is more appropriate to use. He defines it as “the amplification of initial marketing efforts by third parties through their passive or active influence” (p. 64). Thomas differentiates between codified and uncodified buzz. He mentions the various codified buzz tools companies can use include testimonials, endorsements, trial versions, referral programs, gift certificates, etc. “Codified buzz is that which is incubated, fostered and underwritten by the firm. It is the job of the marketer to uncover uncodified buzz and reveal it” (p. 66).

Viral Marketing in Action

33

The success of any vi ra l market ing campaign i s the abi l i ty to break through a l l the adver t i s ing noise . Dobele , Toleman, and Bever land (2005) ident i fy severa l key message charac ter i s t ics tha t increase the l ike l ihood tha t consumers wi l l pass i t a long. A message should be : (1) fun , in t r iguing, and capture the imaginat ion; (2) a t tached to a h ighly v is ib le /easy to use product and be communica ted wi th var ious avai lable technologies ; (3) wel l - ta rge ted to reference groups and other opinion leaders who play s igni f icant ro les in consumers’ dec is ion making; and (4) associa ted wi th a credible source to enhance be l ievabi l i ty .The Ins t i tu te of Informat ion Management has ident i f ied f ive proposi t ions tha t may a lso cont r ibute to the success of v i ra l communica t ion: (1) Giving away valuable products or services ; (2) Providing ef for t less t ransmiss ions ; (3) Exploi t ing common mot iva t ions and behaviors (appeal ing to someone’s good nature to share informat ion) ; (4) Ut i l iz ing exis t ing communica t ion ne tworks ; and (5) Capi ta l iz ing on o ther’s resources and inf ras t ruc ture (Welker , 2002) .The fo l lowing are jus t a few examples of var ious companies who have recognized the va lue of v i ra l market ing and the necessary components of successful implementa t ion . Each one of these companies /products has used i t as par t of the i r adver t i s ing s t ra tegy.Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch hi red Gregg and Evan Spi r ide l l i s to develop web enter ta inment for Budweiser . The Spi r ide l l i s brothers , founders of the animat ion and des ign s tudio J ib Jab , a re known for the i r c rea t ion of an animated pres ident ia l e lec t ion spoof , This Land, v iewed by approximate ly e ighty mi l l ion v iewers (Howard, 2005) .

DeBeersgave websi te consumers the oppor tuni ty to des ign the i r own r ings and then share the i r des igns wi th fami ly and f r iends . DeBeers found vis i tors enjoyed the s i te and did ac tua l ly share i t wi th o thers .Gap

34

San Francisco re ta i le r Gap Inc . recent ly added a v i ra l ad to i t s promot ional mix wi th the addi t ion of a v i r tua l model . Cr ispin Por ter + Bogusky were asked to he lp develop the concept . The v i r tua l model le t s v iewers crea te an image and se lec t physica l t ra i t s inc luding weight , sk in tone , and ha i r . Consumers can then choosevar ious out f i t s for the model to wear and c lub music wi l l p lay as model performs a s t r ip tease down to h is or her undergarments before going to the dress ing room.Long John Si lver ' s Long John Si lver’s c rea ted a websi te to promote i t s Popcorn Shr imp. The websi te fea tures a two-minute f i lm about a guy and his buddy (who happens to be a shr imp) taking a road t r ip . The websi te documents the re la t ionship be tween the two f r iends wi th narra t ion and f lashbacks of previous shared exper iences . The movie ends wi th an unexpected twis t when the guy ea ts h is buddy a t a Long John Si lver’s res taurant (Howard, 2005) .Procter & Gamble , Physique , and TremorPhysique was the most successful shampoo launch in the Uni ted Sta tes fo l lowing a v i ra l market ing promot ion by P&G. Vis i tors who refer red 10 of the i r f r iends to the Physique websi te won a t ravel -s ized s ty l ing spray and were automat ica l ly entered for a chance to win a supply of shampoo for one year . Overa l l , the promot ion genera ted two mi l l ion refer ra ls .

Viral Impact – Strengths

Vira l market ing provides companies wi th a l i s t of s t rengths and benef i t s tha t make i t an a t t rac t ive opt ion and welcome

35

addi t ion to the promot ional mix . Dobele , Toleman, and Bever land (2005) ident i fy tha t the main s t rengths of v i ra l market ing inc lude the low expense , voluntary na ture , and ef fec t ive ta rge t ing .ExpenseEven though speci f ic cos ts for v i ra l market ing may be d i f f icul t to measure , i t has been documented tha t the amount of money spent on web adver t i s ing in genera l cont inues to r i se . In fac t , according to TNS Media In te l l igence , in 2004 $7.4 b i l l ion was spent on in ternet ads which showed a 21% increase f rom 2003 (Howard, 2005) . With th is in mind, one of the most a t t rac t ive benef i t s for companies engaging in v i ra l market ing i s compared to convent ional adver t i s ing; v i ra l market ing campaigns can be v iewed as inexpensive .As Dobele , Toleman, and Bever land (2005) point out , the cos t of forwarding the par t icular brand message i s car r ied by the individual who shares the informat ion, not the company i t se l f . Hotmai l (a f ree emai l service) , spent only $500,000 in 18 months ga in ing 12 mi l l ion subscr ibers jus t by the addi t ion of the tag “Get your pr iva te , f ree eMai l a t h t tp : / /www.hotmai l .com” a t the bot tom of each emai l sent . Thei r c loses t compet i tor , Juno, spent $20 mi l l ion (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) . This example i l lus t ra tes both the cos t -ef fec t iveness of v i ra l market ing and the speed in which a message can be d isseminated across channels .Voluntary NatureAs s ta ted ear l ie r , the adver t i s ing landscape i s c lu t te red wi th messages . Consumers are constant ly be ing bombarded and can v iew t radi t ional adver t i s ing as a mere in ter rupt ion and annoyance . In the case of v i ra l market ing , because e lec t ronic messages are forwarded voluntar i ly by a par t icular individual to somebody they know, they have a grea ter chance of be ing rece ived more pos i t ive ly than i f the message came in the form of a pa id tes t imonia l or o ther convent ional mass ad campaign.Targeting

Individuals forward v i ra l market ing messages to people they know and can ident i fy which f r iends and fami ly members

36

would most apprec ia te , re la te , and respond to the par t icular message . The s imple knowledge tha t i s a resul t of pre-exis t ing re la t ionships i s something tha t the most as tu te researchers a t tempt to tap in to when ident i fy ing ta rge t markets . Account p lanners t ry to ge t in to the mind of the consumer and spend a grea t amount of t ime ident i fy ing the people who wi l l be the most in teres ted in the informat ion the i r c l ients need to communica te . The level of in teres t does not jus t res t in the par t icular product i t se l f but a lso in the way in which i t i s presented . In the case of v i ra l market ingndividuals may choose to share something wi th f r iends or fami ly members jus t based on a par t icular aspect of the message . This may inc lude the use of humor , presenta t ion of a r twork, or another reason tha t i s apprec ia ted only because of the knowledge tha t i s the resul t of the es tabl i shed re la t ionship (Dobele e t a l . , 2005) .The Future of Vira l Market ingThe purpose of th is paper was to provide a br ief g l impse of how t radi t ional adver t i s ing i s s lowly becoming los t amid the newer and more innovat ive a l te rna te execut ions of v i ra l market ing . There are many opinions regarding i t s va lue and whether or not i t wi l l be a temporary fad or i f i t wi l l eventual ly begin to push o ther convent ional forms of communica t ing adver t i s ing messages to the back of bus inesses’ minds . The fo l lowing are a few thoughts f rom var ious adver t i s ing and market ing profess ionals . adver t i s ing landscape i s changing, forc ing marketers to broaden and redef ine the concepts of media , inf luence and audience reach. I f consumer-genera ted media i s in fac t the most e f fec t ive and t rus ted form of adver t i s ing , i t ’ s c r i t ica l tha t marketers begin to measure , manage and inf luence i t and, equal ly impor tant ly , heed the consequences when consumers turn the message agains t brandViral Impact - Weaknesses

Measurement Difficulty

One of the b igges t concerns of v i ra l market ing i s the inabi l i ty to measure the ef fec ts . The benef i t of decreased

37

cost may come a t the expense of audience reach. When companies pay la rge amounts for t radi t ional media p lacement , they u l t imate ly benef i t f rom the es tabl i shed tools such as Nie lson ra t ings to a id wi th repor t ing market ing metr ics . These sources of informat ion provide companies wi th v i ta l informat ion to a id in s t ra tegic dec is ions regarding adver t i s ing p lacement . Unfor tunate ly , because v i ra l market ing i s s t i l l re la t ive ly new, there are not as many t r ied and t rue ways of measur ing and evaluat ing the success of v i ra l campaigns .As popular i ty of v i ra l market ing increases , many companies are recogniz ing the need for be t te r measurement tools and are devis ing methods to measure the i r s tea l th market ing ef for ts . For example , when Mercedes-Benz launched i t s new roads ter in Br i ta in , i t produced a mock t ra i le r for a f ic t ional movie ca l led Lucky Star . The t ra i le r would be shown on TV and in movie thea ters and a t the end; v iewerswere d i rec ted to the Lucky Star websi te . The websi te t racked the amount of t imes the t ra i le r was downloaded. In four months , they were able to repor t i t had been downloaded 50,000 t imes . Al though th is may not be the most def in i t ive measure in assess ing the campaign’s overa l l e f fec t iveness , i t d id provide some form of measurement to evaluate the amount of buzz the t ra i le r c rea ted (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) .Lack of ControlTradi t ional adver t i s ing def in i te ly g ives a company more cont ro l over message content and disseminat ion . Obviously , when companies p lace ads in magazines or run commercia ls , they have fu l l cont ro l over how long the message wi l l run and a good indica t ion of what audience wi l l be v iewing the message . Vira l market ing does not of fer companies th is same secur i ty . Once a message i s re leased, there i s no rea l way for marketers to know who is v iewing the i r message , the way in which i t i s be ing conveyed , and how long i t wi l l run . As Welker (2002) s ta tes , “Theore t ica l ly , the idea v i rus cru ises around endless ly” (p .6) .Companies a lso face a r i sk tha t the par t icular message may ac tua l ly cause some negat ive impact to the product or brand. In some cases , nont radi t ional market ing may be v iewed as underhanded and consumers my wind up fee l ing the company

38

has t r ied to t r ick them by ca tching them off guard . At leas t when a company pursues t radi t ional adver t i s ing and market ing tac t ics , they usual ly have cont ro l f rom the beginning to the end of the campaign. This means tha t i f there are any concerns or ques t ions about the campaign, the company can address them wi thout too much concern . Vira l market ing does not a lways a l low companies to t race the exact reach of the i r par t icular message which could u l t imate ly produce some ser ious consequences (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) .Ethica l and Legal IssuesThe e th ica l and legal i ssues tha t a r i se f rom vi ra l market ing campaigns are la rge ly a t t r ibuted to the previous i ssue of cont ro l . According to Kaikat i and Kaikat i (2004) , Ralph Nader has argued tha t “s tea l th market ing i s an ac t of despera t ion on the par t of the adver t i s ing indust ry” (p . 19) . Many cr i t ics fee l s tea l th market ing i s done in an a t tempt to “ t inker wi th consumers’ minds” (p .19) and fee l as i f there i s a th in l ine be tween innovat ive and decept ive adver t i s ing and fee l as i f severa l campaigns have propel led concerns over t ru th in adver t i s ing to the foref ront . Examples regarding e th ica l i ssue cont rovers ies occurred as a resul t of a Ford Spor t Ka ad depic t ing the decapi ta t ion of a ca t by a sunroof and an ad for a Volkswagen Polo showing a su ic ide bomber b lowing himsel f up ins ide the car . Ford and Volkswagen denied any involvement wi th the crea t ion of the ads , but these examples i l lus t ra te the potent ia l negat ive power and impact of v i ra l adver t i s ing (Sarkar , 2005) .Another area up for debate i s the use of brands wi th in song lyr ics . Some fee l i t commercia l izes and cheapens an ar t form and lobbying ef for ts a re underway to force record ar t i s t s to d isc lose when they are compensated for us ing par t icular brand names in the i r songs .

Viral Impact – Weaknesses

39

Although vi ra l market ing does provide some sol id benef i t s , for every one of the s ta ted s t rengths , there appears to be a corresponding weakness for which companies need to be aware . Not every product or service may lend i t se l f to the dynamics associa ted wi th v i ra l communica t ion and may have some unintended consequences . Some of the most noted weaknesses inc lude measurement d i f f icul ty , lack of cont ro l , and emerging e th ica l and legal i ssues .Measurement DifficultyOne of the b igges t concerns of v i ra l market ing i s the inabi l i ty to measure the ef fec ts . The benef i t of decreased cos t may come a t the expense of audience reach. When companies pay la rge amounts for t radi t ional media p lacement , they u l t imate ly benef i t f rom the es tabl i shed tools such as Nie lson ra t ings to a id wi th repor t ing market ing metr ics . These sources of informat ion provide companies wi th v i ta l informat ion to a id in s t ra tegic dec is ions regarding adver t i s ing p lacement . Unfor tunate ly , because v i ra l market ing i s s t i l l re la t ive ly new, there are not as many t r ied and t rue ways of measur ing and evaluat ing the success of v i ra l campaigns .As popular i ty of v i ra l market ing increases , many companies are recogniz ing the need for be t te r measurement tools and are devis ing methods to measure the i r s tea l th market ing ef for ts . For example , when Mercedes-Benz launched i t s new roads ter in Br i ta in , i t produced a mock t ra i le r for a f ic t ional movie ca l led Lucky Star . The t ra i le r would be shown on TV and in movie thea ters and a t the end; v iewers were d i rec ted to the Lucky Star websi te . The websi te t racked the amount of t imes the t ra i le r was downloaded. In four months , they were able to repor t i t had been downloaded 50,000 t imes . Al though th is may not be the most def in i t ive measure in assess ing the campaign’s overa l l e f fec t iveness , i t d id provide some form of measurement to evaluate the amount of buzz the t ra i le r c rea ted (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) .

Lack of Control

40

T over message content and disseminat ion . Obviously , when companies p lace ads in magazines or run commercia ls , they have fu l l cont ro l over ho radi t ional adver t i s ing def in i te ly g ives a company more cont ro l w long the message wi l l run and a good indica t ion of what audience wi l l be v iewing the message . Vira l market ing does not of fer companies th is same secur i ty . Once a message i s re leased, there i s no rea l way for marketers to know who is v iewing the i r message , the way in which i t i s be ing conveyed, and how long i t wi l l run . As Welker (2002) s ta tes , “Theore t ica l ly , the idea v i rus cru ises around endless ly” (p .6) .Companies a lso face a r i sk tha t the par t icular message may ac tua l ly cause some negat ive impact to the product or brand. In some cases , nont radi t ional market ing may be v iewed as underhanded and consumers my wind up fee l ing the company has t r ied to t r ick them by ca tching them off guard . At leas t when a company pursues t radi t ional adver t i s ing and market ing tac t ics , they usual ly have cont ro l f rom the beginning to the end of the campaign. This means tha t i f there are any concerns or ques t ions about the campaign, the company can address them wi thout too much concern . Vira l market ing does not a lways a l low companies to t race the exact reach of the i r par t icular message which could u l t imate ly produce some ser ious consequences (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) .Ethica l and Legal IssuesThe ethical and legal issues that arise from viral marketing campaigns are la rge ly a t t r ibuted to the previous i ssue of cont ro l . According to Kaikat i and Kaikat i (2004) , Ralph Nader has argued tha t “s tea l th market ing i s an ac t of despera t ion on the par t of the adver t i s ing indust ry” (p . 19) . Many cr i t ics fee l s tea l th market ing i s done in an a t tempt to “ t inker wi th consumers’ minds” (p .19) and fee l as i f there i s a th in l ine be tween innovat ive and decept ive adver t i s ing and fee l as i f severa l campaigns have propel led concerns over t ru th in adver t i s ing to the foref ront . Examples regarding e th ica l i ssue cont rovers ies occurred as a resul t of a Ford Spor t Ka ad depic t ing the decapi ta t ion of a ca t by a sunroof and an ad for a Volkswagen Polo showing a su ic ide bomber b lowing himsel f up ins ide the car . Ford and Volkswagen denied any

41

involvement wi th the crea t ion of the ads , but these examples i l lus t ra te the potent ia l negat ive power and impact of v i ra l adver t i s ing (Sarkar , 2005) .Another area up for debate i s the use of brands wi th in song lyr ics . Some fee l i t commercia l izes and cheapens an ar t form and lobbying ef for ts a re underway to force record ar t i s t s to d isc lose when they are compensated for us ing par t icular brand names in the i r songs . The recording indust ry i s t ry ing to crack down on bla tant product p lacement and i s making i t more d i f f icul t for a r t i s t s to inc lude brand names and images in the i r music and videos for fear audiences wi l l rebel (Kaikat i & Kaikat i , 2004) .

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research

problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done

scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a

researcher in studying his research problem along with logic behind him.

Why a research study has been undertaken, how a research problem has

been defined, in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated,

what data have been collected and what particular method has been adopted,

why particular technique of analyzing data has been used and a host of

similar other questions are usually answered when we talk of research

methodology concerning a research problem or study.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A Research Design i s the f ramework or p lan for a s tudy, which i s used as a guide in col lec t ing and analyzing the da ta col lec ted . I t i s the b lue pr in t tha t i s fo l lowed in comple t ing the s tudy. The bas ic objec t ive of research cannot be a t ta ined wi thout a proper research des ign. I t spec i f ies the methods and procedures for acqui r ing the informat ion needed to conduct the research ef fec t ive ly . I t i s the overa l l opera t ional pa t te rn of the projec t tha t s t ipula tes what informat ion needs to be col lec ted , f rom which sources and by what methods .Descr ip t ive research des ign has been used under th is projec t .

DATA COLLECTION

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There are mainly two sources of data collection primary sources and the secondary sources.

Primary Data

During the course of experimental research we collect the primary data with

the help of Questionnaire. There is greater flexibility under this method as

the opportunity to restructure, question is always present and there are less

chances of non-response.

Primary Sources:

Questionnaires.

Secondary Data

For Secondary data the book which has been referred here is Newspaper,

magazines and Websites. The Author provides an overview of the whole

mobile marketing arena, with a particular focus on how it has changed the

way businesses of every size can get their message across to customers.

For this study the data collection method is adopted to gather the information. This we can call is detailed probing method to gather all the related information.

Secondary Sources:

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News papers.

Journals.

Articles.

Internet.

SAMPLING

Sampling refers to the method of selecting a sample from a given universe

with a view to draw conclusions about that universe. A sample is a

representative of the universe selected for study.

Convenience sampling is used in exploratory research where the researcher

is interested in getting an inexpensive approximation of the truth. As the

name implies, the sample is selected because they are convenient. This non-

probability method is often used during preliminary research efforts to get a

gross estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time required to

select a random sample.

SAMPLE AREA

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I select sample from main places of rural areas like shopkeepers and

farmers.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Convenience sampling technique was used in the survey conducted

ANALYSIS PATTERN

Tables were used for the analysis of the collected data. The data is also

neatly presented with the help of statistical tools such as graphs and pie

charts. Percentages and averages have also been used to represent data

clearly and effectively

ANALYSIS

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Responses of customers with the help of graph and pie chart:

Do you believe in viral marketing?

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES 80%

NO 20%

TOTAL 100%

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

80%

20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

YES NO

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that majority of the people are

concerned about viral marketing.

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Which Internet site have you heard the most?

INTERPRETATION:

By the above graph it can be seen that yahoo.com is most

preferred by the respondent.

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

Yahoo.com 30

Rediffmail.com 20

ebay.com 10

Google.com 20

Monster.com 5

Gmail.com 15

TOTAL 100

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What do you prefer the most?

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

SERVICE 60%

SELF EMPLOYMENT 40%

TOTAL 100%

PREFERENCE OF SERVICE & SELF EMPLOYMENT

60%

40%

100%

SERVICE

SELFEMPLOYMENT

TOTAL

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows the preference of service and self

employment. The table shows that more respondents in service

sector. So respondent prefers the service most.

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Are you satisfied with the services provided by e-marketing.

Particulars %Age

Satisfied 17%

Highly satisfied 23%

Neutral 21%

Dissatisfied 21%

Highly Dissatisfied 18%

TOTAL 100%

SATISFACTION LEVEL OF RESPONDENTS

17%

23%

21%

21%

18%

Satisfied

Highly satisfied

Neutral

Dissatisfied

HighlyDissatisfied

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that less people are satisfied with the

e-marketing.

Do you believe ininternet?

50

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that most people belive in viral

marketing.

Are you interested in knowing the kind of viral

marketing?

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES 70%

NO 30%

TOTAL 100%

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INTEREST LEVEL OF KNOWING IN REMUNERATION

70%

30%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

YES NO

INTERPRETATION:

By the above diagram we can interpret that most of the people

are interested in knowing the viral marketing.

How often do you use internet?

SEMINARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES 70%

NO 30%

TOTAL 100%

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WEEKENDS 50%

NO PROBLEMS WITH

WEEKDAYS 30%

NOT INTERESTED 20%

TOTAL 100%

PREFERENCE OF SEMINARS

50%

30%

20%100%

WEEKENDS

NO PROBLEMSWITHWEEKDAYSNOTINTERESTED

TOTAL

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that half respondents are interested

in weekend’s use of internet.

Do you know any group who would be interested toViral marketing?

53

KNOWING OF AN INTERESTED GROUP65%

35%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

YES NO

INTERPRETATION:

By the above diagram we interpret that most of respondents

have knowledge of an interested group.

Which credit card you are carrying?

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES 65%

NO 35%

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PREFERENCE OF CREDIT CARD

30%

40%

30%

100%

SILVER CARD

GOLD CARD

PLATINUM

TOTAL

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that most people uses the gold card

means it shows the status of the people.

.

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTSSILVER CARD 30%GOLD CARD 40%PLATINUM 30%

TOTAL 100%

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Rural people have less knowledge than urban.

RANGE NO. OF RETAILER

HIGHLY AGREE 18

AGREE 47

MODERATE 24

DISAGREE 4

HIGHLY DISAGREE 0

most of the people are agree.

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WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE USE VIRAL MARKETING

RANGE NO. OF RETAILER

20% - 40% 91

40%- 60% 2

60%- 80% 0

Here we can see that most of peoples belive in viral marketing.

DO YOU THINK THAT CREDIT LIMIT OF 15 DAYS IS SUFFICIENT?

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YES 22

NO 32

TOTAL 54

41%

59%

YES

NO

Most of the respondant has agreed that the credit time is short as retailer

provide credit to customers of more than one month and till they get

payment they won’t make payment so either he has to make payment out of

his pocket or wait.

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SPECIAL OCCASION AFFECT THE SALE / DEMAND OF FMCG

PRODUCT?

RANGE NO. OF SANCHALAK

HIGHLY AGREE 3

AGREE 21

MODERATE 13

DISAGREE 3

HIGHLY DISAGREE 1

SPECIAL OCCASION

7%

52%

32%

7% 2%

HIGHLY AGREE

AGREE

MODERATE

DISAGREE

HIGHLY DISAGREE

Special occasion definately play a major role and affect the demand of

products. And it has been proved by the above graph.

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FINDINGS/OBSERVATIONS

After analyz ing and surveying I have come to the

conclus ion tha t most of the people in India are not

aware about v i ra l market ing

. People who are h ighly educated concerned to the v i ra l

market ing

Those people who have the knowledge of in ternet can

ge t the informat ion about the product .

Vira l market ing ,s s t rength i s i t s potent ia l to spread

exponent ia l ly f rom person to person.

Vira l market ing i s a par t of a comprehensive e-

market ing s t ra tegy.

The people who have bank account can purchase the

product by v i ra l market ing .

60

CONCLUSION

“For every problem there is a solution”

The s tudy, which I conducted on the analys is of market and

opt ions avai lable for inves tment . has been a grea t

exper ience .

In the repor t we have seen tha t there are lo ts of problems in

the v i ra l d is t r ibut ion bus iness but these problems are not

such, which cannot be resolved. The problems speci f ied

above can be resolved eas i ly and the performance of the

v i ra l market ing can be eas i ly increased. Al l tha t we need i s

to th ink f rom the pos i t ive point of v iew.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The projec t repor t wi thout the recommendat ion and

sugges t ion i s not meaningful . So I submit the projec t to

the respect ive author i ty a long wi th the va luable

sugges t ion about the scenar io of channels . which i s the

resul t of my projec t repor t research work.

Today the technology i s increas ing day by day. So

channels should g ive more a t tent ion to the bes t

technology or to adopt more a t t rac t ive program to the

v iewers .

The company should increase the demonst ra t ion of i t s

channels , as i t i s the most impor tant media of

adver t i sement to make the people aware of the

channels . The l ive demonst ra t ion programs must be

organized f requent ly .

Try to adopt suff ic ient technology to for the i r

development area .

62

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

AREA CONSTRAINT

The study was conducted over a l imited

geographic region so the f indings should not be taken as a

general ized view.

TIME CONSTRAINT

An in-depth project could not be carried out due to the pauci ty of t ime

SMALL SAMPLE SIZE

A sample s ize of only 100 respondents was a

smal l one to understand the market behavior in whole .

LACK OF INTEREST

Many of the respondents did not think hard

enough whi le choosing the price points . This could have

led to biased views and thus affected the analys is .

The information which the researcher col lected can be

biased.

Percept ion of the people i s d i f ferent so that the

information should not be much more re l iable .

According to the needs of the people , people thinks di f fer

from other .

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QUECTIONIERS

Q.1-DO YOU BELIVE IN VIRAL MARKETING

(a) Yes

(b) No

Q.2 What do you prefer the most?

(a) Service

(b) Self employment

Q3 Which Internet site have you heard the most?

(a) Yahoo.com

(b) Rediff.com

(c) Google.com

(d) Gmail.com

(e) e bay.com

Q4Are you satisfied with the services provided by e-

marketing.

(a) Satisfied

(b) Highly satisfied

Q5Are you interested in knowing the kind of viral

marketing?

64

(a) Yes

(b) no

Q6 Do you believe ininternet?

(a) Yes (b) no

Q7 How often do you use internet?

(a)Weekend

(b)Non problem in week days

(c)No in teres ted

Q8 Do you know any group who would be interested toViral marketing?

(a) Yes (b) noQ 9 Which credit card you are carrying?(a)Si lver card

(b)Gold card

(c) p la t in ium

65

BLIOGRAPHY

DYEE RENEE(2000) THE BUZZ ON THE BUZZ

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

ELECTRONIC MARKET

PARIK DARSHAN (2004)

INDIAN JOURNAL MARKETING.

WEBSITE LINK

HTTP//EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/

VIRAL_MARKETING”

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

REFERENCES

66

CONFRENCE PROGRAMME AT THE ONLINE

MARKETING SHOW(GOOGLE.COM.IN/BOOKS)

MEDIA. TOOLBOX:MEDIA.BUSINESS IN THE

DIGITAL AGE MARKETING

VIRAL(GOOGLE.COM.IN/BOOKS)

SOCIO CULTURE

ANIMATION(GOOGLE.COM.IN/BOOKS)

PANTIES

@BLOGCRITICS.ORG(GOOGLE.COM.IN/BOOKS)

ENCOURAGES RESIDENTSTOTAKE SOCIAL

HONOURSHIP OF AN

ONLINE(GOOGLE.COM.IN/BOOKS)

VIRAL MARKETING AND THE POWER OF

67