The term viral marketing means different things to different people, but essentially, viral marketing is the promotion of a business through "self-replicating" ideas, slogans and images. Viral marketing comes from out-of-the-box thinking on how to use "contagious" ad campaigns to catapult a business or product into the public eye. This kind of overall marketing strategy has been used to great effect by big food companies like Burger King and a range of other businesses both large and small. With a little attention to how this kind of aggressive marketing works, viral marketing could become a good way to generate interest in a small business led by a work at home mom.

Businesses That Could Use a Viral Marketing Strategy

Almost any business can benefit from using viral marketing techniques, but there are some kinds of businesses that may have a bigger interest in adopting these kind of strategies through social networking, public event sponsorship, or just a lot of creative branding in mass media. Businesses with a narrow or defined target audience might have a better chance of generating the kinds of viral marketing ideas that will catch on like wild fire among their most probable customers. Businesses with a little-known product can get a lot more recognition for their nifty wares with a well-placed viral marketing campaign.

Using Viral Marketing for a Beginning Freelance Business

Another way that viral marketing can work out well is when beginning businesses with little visibility use viral marketing strategies on their web sites. With so many companies offering things like web design, creative services or computer programming, it can be hard for the littlest shops to compete due to lack of connection with potential clients. A little viral marketing can get passive attention focused on your business, and some good follow-through can land a steady stream of clients.

Basics for Pursuing Viral Marketing

Besides just putting a viral marketing idea on a web site, business start-ups can reach out to customers with Facebook and Twitter and other new technologies. The kinds of marketing practices that ad pros consider viral are things that customers will be likely to pass along to each other. For food-based businesses, these can be recipes or funny ad slogans. For other service-oriented businesses, they  can be estimate tools or recommendations for home projects. The possibilities are literally endless when it comes to generating ideas that will be accepted and passed along by the individuals a business is trying to reach. To some, viral marketing has a bad name because of relatively shady practices involved in some forms of this new ad technique, which is why a business has to think reasonably about whether a specific campaign will meet with approval and enthusiasm or just alienate existing customers.

Use good judgment in pursuing viral marketing to boost interest in your small work at home business, and always think about how new advertising strategies will appeal to those who you want in your client list.