As busy as we are here at 97th, I managed to pull off another one of these posts to keep our VMIF (Viral Marketing Idea Friday) going strong 2 weeks in a row! I think we might just be able to keep this series going strong because of all the feedback and support I got from last week. I appreciate those who left comments, and those who emailed me with their ideas. Like I said in the other post, if you do not see your industry answered on todays post, then keep checking back, because I will eventually get to it.

I got a good viral marketing idea industry question in the form of a comment last week from a good friend of mine - Janet Meiners who also happens to blog at one of the few other marketing blogs I read - Marketing Pilgrim (which I do suggest to all our readers here at 97th Floor) Here is her viral marketing question about this Internet Fax company:

Ok, here’s my boring business that I’m working to promote - efax service. electronic faxes. Any ideas?
Thanks
Janet

Ok, this one is going to be fun. I can see where one might think its pretty a pretty boring industry, and not have any viral marketing ideas, However; the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this question was the scene from Office Space when the three guys take the printer and give it a beat down - gangster style. You know what I am talking about “Damn it feels good to be a gangster” I don’t know where you have been the last several years if you don’t know what I am talking about, but here is a clip for the 1% that may not have seen this movie, and it will also be fun for all those who have seen the movie a million times like me. (enjoy) (song playing in the background might not be safe for work - so turn the speakers off or down if you must)

Even though I used this example (a printer getting the beat down) the headline that I would use for this kind of a viral campaign would be “10 Things You Just Shouldn’t Do To A Fax Machine“, “Can You Believe What Some People Do To Fax Machines?” or “10 Of The Great Fax Moments In TV History” Again, I used the You Tube video of the printer, but I did a quick search and found hundreds of funny pictures and videos of crazy things people were doing to their fax machines. I could have spent hours on it because it was so funny.

This tells me this would be a pretty hot campaign. Trust me, if you do any searches on this you will find some pretty freaking funny (and sick) stuff. A post showing the 10 crazy pictures, and videos (either or too) and a little write up with your take on them (maybe add some humor) would be enough because the videos and/or pictures would be enough for this piece to go viral.

So again, thinking outside the box gives us a pretty good viral marketing idea to run with, even for a boring industry like a efax service one. This is one of several ideas that “popped” in my head. Another one that I thought was pretty funny was, “10 faxes people wish they didn’t send” or “Top 10 Funniest Things Ever Seen Sent by Fax“.

I think you get the idea, so just have fun and use the resources that are our there like Google Images and You Tube, and make it fun. This is why I love viral marketing and social media because this generation supplies us with enough material for two lifetimes!!

This was a great question Janet (so thanks for asking), and again I encourage you to leave your questions in the comments, or email myself or Chris and your viral marketing question could be answered on the next VMIF!

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