When most people think of viral products, they think of videos, email forwards and reports (ebooks).

However, as mentioned earlier in this report, useful tools can also “go viral.” We mentioned the Hotmail example earlier. But here’s another example that might spark a few ideas…

Example: Adobe used viral marketing to launch their PDF products. The way they did it is by handing out their PDF Reader for free. Indeed, your last several computers likely had the Adobe Reader already pre-installed. And if your computer doesn’t have the reader pre-installed, it’s ready available as a free download online.

Now, here’s the reason the Adobe Reader went viral…

The next thing Adobe did was encourage the United States government to use their cross platform PDF-creating software. Because it was a wonderful solution to offering documents that could be read on any computer, the government readily used the software. And since the reader was free, there were no worries about people being unable to read the documents.

And that’s when the viral effect kicked in…

In order for people to read any government documents, they needed to download the reader. Soon lots of people had the reader on their computers, so other organizations (such as private businesses) started using PDF files. The more organizations that used it, the more people downloaded the reader… and the cycle continued!

The way PayPal got its start is another example of viral marketing.

Sure, they offered free money to anyone who referred new members. But the real viral effect took place on eBay…

First, PayPal marketed their services like crazy as a solution for quick and easy money transfers after an auction. It was brilliant – no waiting days for a check in the mail to arrive, and no paying huge Western Union fees. As such, auction sellers jumped on it immediately.

But here’s the catch…

In order to send money to a seller, the buyer needed to open a PayPal account. In other words, both people who used the service needed to open accounts. Genius.
Same thing then happened with PayPal as happened with the Acrobat/Adobe reader. The more sellers used PayPal, the more buyers needed to sign up. And soon their business exploded.

Does that give you any ideas?

Specifically: What sort of tool, product or service can you create that requires people to “sign up” to use the tool?

Also, think about what sorts of other products you can create that carry your marketing message, such as blog themes, blog plug-ins, online calculators, software, and more.

Be creative with your marketing – it’s well worth the effort.

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About the Author:
This article was created by Tim Dodd, Head Trainer at 3dInternetMarketing.com. 3dInternetMarketing are fast building an excellent reputation showing online business owners where they can quickly & easily earn additional profits from their existing client base and how they can literally tap into an unending source of well qualified, eager to buy, new customers. To learn more visit [2] www.3dInternetMarketing.com today.

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