Online marketing is fairly straightforward, for the most part. You build a website, optimize it for search engines, post blogs, share them on social media, and send out promotional emails.
However, it's not enough to just have a website. You have to stand out. According to Internet Live Stats, there are over 1,049,500,000 websites and counting. Marketing Profs says that there are about 122,500,453,020 emails are sent every hour. Lastly, MediaBistro reports that there are over 50 million Facebook pages.
With so much content out there on the web, your online marketing strategy really has to shine if you want people to read your onsite blogs, check out your infographics, or even to just join your social media marketing campaign.
How then do you do this?
Easy. You get creative. Check out a few of the most recent online advertising stunts that went viral to get a better idea of the crazy cool things you can do to make your online marketing campaign stand out.
Get People Talking by Playing a Prank, like Netflix's Implausibly Specific Movie Categories.
April Fool's Day is a goldmine for social media. Brands like Google, Lego, Cheetos, and more all get in on the fun and prank their followers with gag product announcements and other hijinks. Netflix, for example, got a lot of attention in 2013 for the online marketing stunt it pulled. News sites like Huffington Post all reported on Netflix's implausibly specific movie categories, like "TV Shows Where Defiantly Crossed Arms Mean Business!" and "Movies Featuring An Epic Nicolas Cage Meltdown." By pulling such a kooky prank, you give people something to talk about.
Be Relevant by Taking Advantage of Popular Memes, like WATERisLIFE's First World Problem Video.
If it's one thing webizens love other than cat pictures, it's memes. Taking advantage of a popular, running joke that's going around the web -- like WATERisLIFE did -- is a great online marketing tactic. The non-profit organization's controversial online marketing campaign was inspired by the "First World Problems" memes, which are relatively minor complaints and frustrations experienced only by those who live in wealthy, developed nations. WATERisLIFE put captions of such complaints, like “I hate when my leather seats aren't heated” and “I hate it when my phone charger won’t reach my bed” beneath pictures of third-world children, to drive home how little such privileged people actually have to complain about, and how much others are suffering and need help.
Offer Useful Content, Like Oreo's Snack Hacks.
One of online marketing's cardinal rules is that content is king. You have to offer high-quality, useful content that people want to read, like, and share. Recently, Oreo started sharing videos to illustrate how cookie-lovers could enjoy Oreos in innovative new ways -- like creating recipes and even cocktails with them. The company encourages creative fans to label their submissions with the hashtag #OreoSnackHack.
If you want your online marketing campaign to really stand out, you need to get people talking, be relevant, and offer useful content. Only then will people notice.
If you have any questions about online marketing, feel free to ask in the comments.
By: Andrew Lindsay