Can you help me understand the meaning of Viral Marketing?

[ponderingmind]

Hi,

I had been trying to understand Marketing technologies, but being an absolute beginner to this study as usual, i am having trouble in understanding the exact meaning of certain Marketing Terms. One such term is Viral Marketing, i would be glad if someone can guide me towards some valuable articles that would represent the exact definition and description of the term.

Thanking You,

Regards,
Pondering Mind.

[Incubator]

Have look at this thread, http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htmI am not affiliated with it but it sums it up pretty well.

Cheers

WC

[ponderingmind]

Excellent Link! Thank you.

Regards
Pondering Mind

[ponderingmind]

Now, here goes an another question. What exactly does CPM means? and how can it be differentiated with CPC and CPA?

Regards,
Pondering Mind

[Incubator]

Seems like you are just having a problem with terms, this should help

http://www.marketingterms.com/

Cheers

WC

[ponderingmind]

I tried the site, but it didnt give me a clear picture as required. Maybe I need to check various other sites other than marketingterms.com. Any suggestions for a good marketing term lookup sites other than the one quoted above?

Regards,
Pondering Mind.

[seomike]

My favorite are the sport event streakers with the casino ads on the backs :)

(British open) http://www.laughnet.net/archive/toons/golph.gif

(SuperBowl 2004) http://pasfolle.sisdom.com/SuperBowlStreaker.jpg

(Wimbledon Finals) http://www.streaking.co.uk/markrobertswimbledon2002pic3.jpg

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Why ot take a few of the most important terms here :)


Viral Marketing
A fancy word for Word Of Mouth - usually associated with online activities that by itself, and by it's use, generate the marketing effect. The first large example of such is probably hotmail. You get the free account, and they place an ad in it. The account is only usefull to you if you actually send e-mails and as you do you promote the service. Thats how they originally gained 20 million users. And thats how Skype got over 18 million the first 6 month and Kazaa has parsed 350. It's very effective if well done!


CPM - Cost Per Mille
Which mean cost per 1000 - usually ad impressions. It was the prefered advertising model back the the pre-dot.com days and is still widely used for banners. So, if you see a price of $5CPM it means that you pay $5 for every 1000 impressions you get.

CPC - Cost Per Click
Which shouldn't need more explanation :)

CPA - Cost Per Acquisition or Action
The term is used to describe a business model where you pay the marketing channel based on actions such as leads, sign ups, downloads or sales.


I think that covered the first ones ...

[ponderingmind]

Thanks a lot Mikkel.

If you could suggest some good Marketing Terms Searching sites, other than marketingterms.com, then that would be great.

Regards,
Pondering Mind.