viral marketing

[ vahy-ruhl mahr-ki-ting ]

noun

1. a marketing strategy that focuses on spreading information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially by using unconventional means such as the internet or email:

   Which online social networks can help with viral marketing?

viral marketing

noun

1. a direct marketing technique in which a company persuades internet users to forward its publicity material in e-mails (usually by including jokes, games, video clips, etc)
2. a marketing strategy in which conventional media are eschewed in favour of various techniques designed to generate word-of-mouth publicity, in the hope of creating a fad or craze

Word History and Origins

Origin of viral marketing¹

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

Giving launch-party guests the chance to pose for a professional photographer, and potentially appear on a Times Square billboard, was a brilliant viral marketing move.

From Time

In fact, you could say Deadheads invented viral marketing like the Ice Bucket Challenge.

From The Daily Beast

Either this is clever viral marketing for a new Yogi Bear movie or Earth is destined to become the Planet of the Bears.

From The Daily Beast

The heavy viral marketing is also taking some of the pressure off the actual show.

From The Daily Beast

But no amount of viral marketing can make a hit out of nothing.

From The Daily Beast

Indeed, when reluctant authors are cajoled into participating in viral marketing, the results are less than spectacular.

From The Daily Beast