Explain how viral marketing could be an important part of marketing for a business.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Definition of viral marketing – marketing technique that uses social media networks to increase brand awareness of products and services. Idea is to generate an 'infection' of thought among the base users which is passed on and multiplied.
2. [1] Viral marketing adds to the traditional methods of marketing the messages of a business.
3. [1] Viral marketing can build brand recognition very quickly.
4. [1] Viral marketing may well be a highly effective and cost efficient tool in the marketing mix in exploiting social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness.
5. [1] Viral marketing becomes very attractive as traditional channels become more competitive and expensive.
6. [1] Very attractive to start-up ventures with limited marketing budgets and can deliver outstanding results in a short space of time.
7. [1] Viral marketing needs to be integrated with the other variables in a marketing mix, and can significantly improve a marketing ROI.
8. [1] So viral marketing can be an important part of a marketing strategy, but there are risks.