Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

I remember watching a woman in a store that was being shown a little furry toy on a wooden handle that an employee (marketer) got her attention with. It was in a little area with a plastic bubble over it on a table. You had circular holes that you could put your hand through to grab one of the toys.

The man got her attention and had his hand underneath the table where he could hold the handle and move the little figure back and forth to draw get someone looking.

He told her to go ahead and get one of the little furry critters. When she put her hand inside the bubble where the toys were, he immediately took the furry figure and pretended he was going to grab her hand. She screamed and jumped back quickly...and everyone around the event was laughing; including her.

Now the point in this story is that in internet marketing that we want to go viral, one of the strategies that can be part of making it successful is to "do the unexpected." The unexpected surprises, delights and engagement, get people talking and makes them want to share what happened to them.

The event I'm talking about? It happened over 10 years ago, and it made such a funny impression on my mind, that to this day I laugh about it; even as I'm writing this.

The woman in this true story laughed, turned red, was shocked, started to talk, and will probably not forget the experience. You could see that she was going to go home and tell everyone she knew about how she got fooled into putting her hand into the toy bubble area and about jumped out of her shoes.

This is the type of unexpected surprise that makes a viral marketing campaign successful.