This post by Kelly Robertson is really interesting, as it shows an estimate of the marketing trends for this year. Here we can find information about where business will locate their digital marketing budget, as well as information about consumers, and their online trends for 2012. I was surprised to find that 87% of the US citizens use Internet to research products, and 66% to buy. This highlights the importance of digital marketing this year and how every business should attempt to be as present as possible. The fact that 20% of Google monthly searches are for local business, illustrates how even the smaller business should have an online marketing plan, as the benefits could be great.

We can even find a prediction for the most popular tactics, where SEO is where most budget will be allocated, followed by website creation and/or optimisation.

Finally the mobile marketing trend is one of the newest, most important trends. The increased use of smartphones to be on the Internet make them important channels to reach the client, and the newest opportunity to gain advantage in digital marketing.

http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/

To prove the magic of YouTube, and why TED’s Ads Worth Spreading Challenge does well to use it as channel for the ads I have chosen a few of my favourite YouTube viral marketing successes. These videos have launched sales for relatively unknown brands, and made them worldwide icons, iconic sports stars, and even national jokes.

First the most iconic of all viral marketing YouTube videos:

Will it Blend?: Blendtec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

Proving that Internet, social media and viral marketing can sell anything, to all kinds of audience. Who would have thought that one of the greatest Internet campaigns would be of blenders!

Another great (unintended or not) viral success is that of Canadian folk Band Sons of Maxwell, who after posting in YouTube a video of a song complaining about how United Airlines broke the lead’s guitar and didn’t compensate him, have booked many gigs.

United breaks guitars: Sons of Maxwell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

This is also an example of negative viral marketing, as United Airlines lost about $180 million in stock value in 4 days.

Another impacting ad that brought high sales to the company is Dermablend’s demonstration of how its make-up can cover everything. By targeting the prejudices many tattooed people face, with the emotional tint of “do not judge a book by its cover”, this video has achieved huge success.

Go beyond the cover: Dermablend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIBKifOOQQ

It also targeted a new audience for Dermablend that now has many videos in its web showing how to cover tattoos with the make-up, and is purchased for this purpose.

Leading to the national joke… this ad designed by legendary “commercial kings” Rhett & Link, has given a local taxidermy shop worldwide coverage.

Ojai Valley Taxidermy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJP1DphOWPs

Nope! It’s Chuck Testa!

My personal favourite is this incredible video; where Danny MacAskill shows some stunts in his bicycle though the streets of Edinburgh. Now the first ever professional street trails rider (a profession he coined) sponsored by Red Bull, MacAskill has become an iconic star, making this whole video into a company (Inspired Bicycles Ltd.) and himself into a brand.

Inspired Bicycles: Danny MacAskill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

http://www.ted.com/pages/initiatives_ads_worth_spreading_about

TED’s mission is ideas worth spreading. An ad worth spreading is a short way of communicating an idea. Revealing the way a company thinks shows consumers what that company is and what it stands for.

This is the idea behind TED’s Ads worth spreading. This initiative aims to challenge company’s to send ads, offering prices to the most outstanding ideas and ways of portraying them. I find the way TED uses viral marketing, with YouTube as a channel to push different companies around the globe to create new ads, very interesting. Pushing the envelope is always close to the heart of TED’s mission. This initiative shows how important the growth of viral marketing has become, and how successful it can be for a company.

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html

This video shows, with a fun example, how the web 2.0 works. It is evident that every time the advertising company has less and less control.

First they lost control over their audience. As Ohanian says, Internet provides a level playing field, where most consumers have an equal access to all the different websites. All companies can set up a Facebook page, design e-marketing campaigns, create ads and post them in YouTube… and all at a very low cost.

Therefore, the success of a campaign doesn’t depend any more on the money invested. The key for success isn’t any more in the product, idea or way of communicating. Success lies in the hands of the consumer.

Later, they lost control over the message. As this video shows, the consumers can interpret the message a business sends with a campaign. Furthermore, the message chosen by the consumer will spread faster and to more people than the message the business is trying to deliver.

So what can a business do to have a successful social media campaign? The answer is to deliver what the audience wants. People want fun, so businesses should make it fun for the consumer to interact with the web and motivate them to spread the message around.

But most importantly, today it is necessary to pay attention to the audience, and know how to take advantages of the opportunities they provide. This is what Greenpeace did with the Mr. Splashy Pants campaign. Let the audience choose the message they want, and use it to engage them in your brand!