Viral marketing was the buzz word of of the internet back in 2000, particularly highlighted by the book Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin. Since then every online marketing guru has had a go at creating their own product to get "sneezed" around the world.

Stepping out of the faceless online business world, the use of viral marketing is still alive, working well for small business and nowhere more so than a rural city in North West Queensland.

To give you an insight here's what the procedure is

After checking my email the other day, there was a forwarded email from a good friend of mine, recommending me to try the new Indian food in town. Now having lived here for a number of years the sound of getting our own Indian restaurant was very exciting. The note at the top in blue writing said "thought you guys might be interested in this, we had food from here last week and it was value for money and tasted fantastic. If you want to get on the mailing list, send an email to the address below and you'll get the weekly menu sent out on a tuesday"

After finishing reading, I was slightly disappointed with the fact that this family business did not have a restaurant, but was still heartened to know that there was another alternative to take away each week. Right away, without any thought, I did just as my friend had done. I hit the forward button to send this through to my friends who I know would love to try some of this. 10 friends later, I got a reply from 6 of them saying that they had placed orders.

How does all this work?

• Each week a traditional Indian dish is chosen, an email is prepared with the details of the dish, it's origins, flavours etc.
• The list is emailed out asking for orders to be placed by 6pm on Tuesday, the food is ready to be collected and paid for on Thursday 6pm.
• To keep overheads low the Indian Kitchen is operating out of a bakery after hours.
• It is a family business, with a couple doing the cooking and sales.
• No money has been spent on advertising, it is all word of mouth.

This little business WAS the best kept secret in town.

Providing a quality product to a market that is under supplied, through the recommendation of their customers has given this small business a leg in, into an over crowded take away food market.

Thoughts and Actions for your business:

• On average people will tell 1 in 10 of their friends about a good experience they have had with a business. They will tell 10 out of 10 if they had a bad experience.
• Personal recommendations far outweigh any other form of marketing, reputation and rapour with your clients should only be second to providing the highest quality product and service.