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Today I ran across an article in the Harvard Business Review that made me raise one of my eyebrows. It’s titled “Viral Marketing for the Real World”. In this article the two authors propose a viral marketing technique they call “big-seed marketing”.

The authors suggested that we combine viral marketing tools with “old-fashioned” mass media to produce better results. My first reaction was to ask whether we really need a new name for this. Isn’t this just another name for an integrated marketing plan?

My second reaction was surprise that this isn’t already common practice for most marketers. As anybody that has successfully executed a viral marketing initiative will attest to, you must supply your “child” (the viral piece) with every opportunity you can so that they can grow and be successful. As the parent, you want to use every resource at your disposal. This includes emails, blogs, forums, SEO, PR, banner ads, and anything else your budget will allow.

If you don’t do this already, I highly encourage you to read this article. If what I wrote makes sense to you, then…well, I’ve just wasted a few minutes of your time…sorry.

Photo by: leenient