Using Viral Video in Small Business Marketing

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I had a great visit with Bob Thacker, senior vice president of marketing and advertising at OfficeMax, for a recent episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Bob is the inspiration behind some very clever viral campaigns of late for office supply retail giant.

I wrote earlier about the “Penny Pranks” hidden camera series of videos featuring a comedian trying to make purchases around New York City using nothing but pennies. The videos were very successful and highlighted the chain’s back to school message. I think this is a very solid example of the use of viral video that even the smallest business can follow.

Thacker is also associated with the chain’s well documented “Elf Yourself” campaign. While this campaign was far more successful in terms of traffic and awareness, it was far less tied directly to a message or theme that could help sales and much more of an attempt at brand awareness, a much tougher play for the small business. Look for the elves to return in some fashion once again in Q4!

AT&T This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is brought to you by att.com/onwardsmallbiz. Resources for the small business owner.

Penny Pranks – Office Max ad campaign

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Posted by: John Jantsch on Aug 25, 08 | 11:11 am
Category: Referral Marketing | Tags: , OfficeMax

Comments

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Paul Simister, Your Profit Coa

Thanks for this job. Viral Marketing is a fascinating development that can generate enormous increases in traffic.

The trick is to find the way to be creative.

Paul Dunn, Mortgage Marketing

Video marketing is massively viral in nature. In my mortgage practice I use video marketing to keep in touch with my database. One time I received a call from someone on the other side of the planet, India, who was looking for a mortgage here in Arizona. How many times did that video have to get passed?

Ryan Stephens

I had the fortunate opportunity to work with OfficeMax on a consulting project (for school) last semester, and can honestly say area phenomenal organization with great company culture.

I also had a very good friend (:::cough::: girlfriend) work on the Penny Campaign as part of her internship this summer. She speaks very fondly of Bob and that entire team. It's been a huge success for the company (at least in terms of traffic and awareness).

My only question is... Does the blatant promotion at the end of the viral videos make it seem more like an advertisement. Obviously, it's pointless to argue the result of the videos, but for me that was a turnoff. Was there another solution? Does it even matter?

chrisbaggott

I love video and it's really really effective and easy for small business marketing. Here's a link to one of my favorite Compendium Blogware clients (for reasons that will become obvious)

http://greenfieldliquors.compendiumblog.com/blo...

This is a small town liquor store in Greenfield Indiana. The owner does these video's on drink recipes and films the salesman talking about their products. If you look at the numbers, these videos get viewed between 50 and 200 times...may not seem like a lot, but given how easy this is (a cheap flip camera and 5 minutes) it's very much worth it. Her quote to me: "We used to sell bottles now I have to order cases on the things we blog about"

Do a search on Crown Royal, Greenfield and see for yourself what a great Duct Tape strategy this is :-)

Best,

Chris Baggott
CEO
Compendium Blogware
www.compendiumblogware.com

Max Entin

At the core of the viral marketing campaign you need to have something that people will find valuable, interesting, funny so that they are compelled to share it with their friends, coworkers, etc. It does not necessarily have to be a video. Our company allows people to download useful software for their website like a photo gallery http://www.flash-gallery.org/ or an mp3 player http://www.flashmp3player.org/demo.html. People find the content valuable and pass it along to others and the message spreads like a virus from one person to another.

Video Marketing Success

Mix video and local search together and you get some powerfule results!

Video Marketing Guy

Video Marketing produce great results to every businesses..

Seh

Video is a great way to maximize search results. Im not so technically advanced, so I looked for helped marketing. After I had what I thought would attention-getting content, I used a site called http://www.adwido.com they helped me create a campaign to target specific keywords and boost traffic, plus the account was FREE...

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