The marketing department is always shooting to get their materials to go viral. The sales department hopes the marketing pieces go viral and the phones start ringing off the hook. Are you ready if it really happens?
Imagine what is about to happen to your office if a video, advertisement, or even a press release goes viral and spreads like wildfire. Suddenly your phones will be ringing faster than you can answer them. Your email boxes may start filling up. Your website may become saturated with visitors challenging your server to keep up. All of those issues are the blessings of your marketing going viral. You will catch up with email, the phones will slow down, and the web server will probably survive, but did you capture all those leads?
When you are attempting to get your marketing materials to go viral you must have all your systems ready for action. Is your sales lead management setup and ready to capture all the leads? If you do not have a plan for catching the leads they may end up scribbled down on scraps of paper which disappear. They may go into one person’s email contact list and never get sent to the proper sales person to call the lead.
Viral marketing efforts are one of the most exciting moments in a company’s lead generation cycle. Do not let the excitement as you work to create fun, controversial, or humorous content blind you to the mundane tasks which will need to be done behind the scenes.
Who needs to be trained in preparation for the big event? Your secretaries, receptionists, sales team, marketing staff, customer service department, and anyone else who may be answering the phone. Make sure they have seen the material before it launches. Teach everyone how to enter leads into your sales lead management system instead of sending emails or scribbling down notes. This is a time when your company can generate leads which will sustain sales for many months if they are all captured properly.
Are you ready for an exciting time, or just hoping to survive? Get prepared and then work diligently to create viral marketing materials. The excitement will be even greater when you alleviate the stress of being unprepared for a viral explosion.