The Blog on Branding

Why is Viral Video Marketing a Critical Marketing Strategy?

Creating a successful viral marketing campaign is very important to the success and profitability of a business. In today’s Internet age, the average attention span of site viewers and consumers has lowered, and so the challenge for the marketer lies in capturing the attention of the consumer and holding it long enough to get the point across.

“The average attention span of site viewers has lowered…”




The following tips will help you create a successful viral marketing campaign:

• Strategic placement
• Bigger isn’t always better
• Keeping it spicy
• Can you hear me now?

The video needs to not only be viewable as soon as the consumer enters, but it must be boldly advertised on the site in ways such as “Click here for some quick information about Product X” or simply by having the video start playing as soon as the site is loaded.

The first few seconds a consumer peruses a site is when the marketer has to get their attention. If not, all the effort put into the video will be wasted because consumers do not desire to search for information on something you are trying to sell them.

“You must get a consumer’s attention in the first few seconds!”



Time is crucial in this type of marketing.

• What others are saying in ten minutes, try and say it in two minutes.

Once you have the person’s attention, and they are viewing the video, you need to keep their attention within the first few seconds.

Remember, that the average attention span of a viewer is a few seconds; so, if you if you lose them in the first two seconds, they are going to exit out of the video faster than it took them to find it.

Just like the opening lines of a news article should grab one’s attention, the opening of a marketing video should be smart and attention grabbing.

This is where the importance of your visual scheme comes into play.

Weave the following together in such a way that the video truly grabs the attention of the consumer:

• Color scheme
• Background
• Graphics
• Fonts
• Corporate identity
• Product you are marketing

By incorporating these effectively, your video should maintain the viewer interest for the next minute and forty five seconds.

The human eye and mind are appeased by continuity and symmetry so this aspect is important. If there is a lack of this, it will make the company appear unprofessional and unreliable.

“The human eye and mind are appeased by continuity and symmetry…”

The voices used should create a certain amount of rhythm to go along with scheme of the ad. Depending on the audience that is being targeted, the choice of music could add another element to the marketing.

Slogans and buzzwords, while a more traditional method of marketing, can add another opportunity for remembering the product long after the video is over. It is good to have some sort of slogan that can be viewed in the video, so even if the video is muted, the consumer still has something that could be committed to memory long after these two minutes are over.

Buzz words and catch phrases are something that you have to be careful with. If they are not over used or overly cheesy, they can be strategically weaved into the short symmetry of product information and visual and audio schemes to leave somewhat of a lasting impression with the consumer.

Using these strategies will help you create a successful viral marketing campaign and reach your audience in a short amount of time.

Regina Lawrence Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.