If you played video arcade games in the late 80’s, even early 90’s, you might remember Zero Wing — a game in which a battle takes place in the year 2101, where you must defend the planet Earth from an alien invasion led by the dreaded warrior Cats.

Zero Wing may have been a favorite among teenagers, but like the Cabbage Patch doll the fad faded… Until Sega Genesis came out with their version of the popular arcade game in ‘98, giving Zero Wing new breath. But this time, one is offered an animated introduction in preparation for the space battle…

“In A.D. 2101, war was beginning.” And a dialogue between the ship’s captain and Cats ensued, offering these priceless gems:

“You Have No Chance To Survive Make Your Time.” “All Your Base Are Belong To Us.” “What you say!” “Someone Set Up Us The Bomb!” “Move ‘Zig’ For Great Justice!” And many more.

Now, what does a video game have to teach us about copywriting?

Obviously, this poor Japanese-to-English translation has made a few people grin. But in the summer of 2000, “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” started to make its rounds in message forums and email. Then graphically-altered pictures started to invade the ether: Billboards, road signs and even Bill Gates, donning “All Your Bases Are Belong to Us” insignias, populated the Internet.

“All Your Base spread from office to office like a benign virus,” writes Chris Taylor in a recent Time Magazine issue. This benign virus to which Chris is referring is a rock video (developed in Shockwave Flash), which is, essentially, a mini-slideshow of “All Your Base” pictures.

Then the “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” phrase, or AYBABTU, started popping up in the real world: Shopping mall windows, city building rooftops, even regular websites, you name it.

According to PlanetSeige.com, the ‘All your Base’ craze, which started as a tiny inside joke, has now become “an explosively popular Internet phenomenon.” National newspapers, such as the Ottawa Citizen, USA Today and San Fransisco Chronicle, wrote articles about the “conspiracy.” Even an online retailer sells AYBABTU memorabilia.

Is it really a conspiracy? No. Is it just a fad? Maybe. But one thing’s for sure: It’s brilliant viral marketing since it uses, as its springboard, one of three essential response-boosting ingredients:

Curiosity, scarcity or controversy.

Online, using one of these three elements can dramatically boost both readership and response. And viral forms of publicity can become tremendously effective — the news can spread very quickly and effortlessly if done right.

If your storyline is unique, the offer focuses on a niche and the copy utilizes one of these three elements, not only will it increase conversions but also the knowledge of your existence will spread almost naturally. And using the Internet as a way to automate, leverage and increase the spread of that message can help to multiply your marketing… Exponentially.

Take my friend Mike Filsaime’s Butterfly Marketing launch. Or even John Reese’s Traffic Secrets. Sure, affiliates were promoting it. But they were controversial. Talk about these information products was buzzing all over the Internet. Both good AND bad. And people’s curiosity glands were kicking into overdrive.

But they used something else to help propel their sales: “Spy photos.” Blogs. Videos. Reprintable product reviews (both good and bad ones, and the bad ones often being the most controversial and magnetic in terms of traffic). Social proof. Samples. Contests. Downloadable special reports (like John’s MillionDollarDay.com PDF file).

You name it!

But let’s take a look at viral marketing for a moment.

Viral marketing, which is merely word-of-mouth, is called such because it propagates from person to person. Online, it’s also called “word-of-mouse,” because viral marketing often uses content, pictures and files (such as freeware, ebooks, audios and even videos, like AYABTU, which, in the case of information products, are screencam videos), which can be easily downloaded, copied and spread around online.

It can also be in the form of a web-based application and not just content (such as traffic generating scripts, referral systems, affiliate programs, quizzes, greeting cards, checklists, etc).

But videos, especially controversial ones (either by their very nature, or by piggy-backing on the coattails of a news item or certain recent event, while it’s fresh on people’s minds), are powerful because they engage all the senses. And the more senses you engage, reported by a University study, the greater the retention, comprehension and interest levels. As much as 224%.

A great example of a current promotion using this very strategy — and doing extremely well — is Brad Fallon’s new “explosive” video. There are three reasons: 1) It’s a great counter-strategy to the recent “Google Slap” (where paid advertisers have been hit hard by the latest changes at Google), 2) it offers the video first and pulls you in to know more (thus building a list), and 3) it offers some powerful content with tons of proof.

Nevertheless, one question remains: Is viral marketing limited to the electronic realm? Does it need to be web-based? Not really.

Word can spread online with results that are faster and more far-reaching than any other form of word-of-mouth advertising. Add an element of curiosity, scarcity or controversy, and your “message” will populate emails, message forums, newsgroups, blogs and websites — as if on their own, like a virus. Thus, if you can create a “buzz” about your business, site or product, or even any kind of buzz through which you are visible, you’ve got it made!

No files. No web-based scripts. Not even a website.

Here’s a case in point.

Nearly half a million people a day were calling a New Jersey investment firm’s voice mail just to hear the sound of a duck quacking. Their automated reception, which began with those typical corporate prompts, such as “To request a new account kit, press two,” included as its last option: “If you would like to hear a duck quack, press seven.”

The brokerage firm, which has a mallard as its mascot, decided to throw in the sound of a duck quacking as an option on their toll-free line — it was a joke at first. Being the last in a series of seven message prompts, they thought that nobody would notice or even care. But in a very short amount of time, people started calling the line to hear the sound of the duck, tying up the brokerage’s phone system in the process.

The message went something like this:

“To make a claim, press 1. To make changes to your policy, press 2. To talk to one of our representatives, press 3.” All the way to “…To hear a duck quack, press 7.”

According to an article in Canada’s National Post newspaper, writer Robert Thompson reported that, at the end of the first week, only eight people listened to the quack. But word spread so quickly that, with the phone number circulating throughout the Internet and particularly by email, more than 270,000 people called the number by the end of the first month. “We didn’t do anything,” said the brokerage’s CEO. “We just left it on our voice mail — the Internet took care of the rest.”

In a recent interview with Mike Bartlett of NewsBytes.com, one spokesperson said that, while the company did not do anything to promote the duck, the exposure the popular fowl has brought to the company is estimated to have resulted in a 75% increase in the number of new accounts opened in each of the past three weeks.

Nevertheless, the first step in viral marketing is to develop your unique selling proposition, or USP. Aside from all the other steps, if you master this one you will create word-of- mouth advertising as a natural byproduct, without effort.

Readership goes up. Interest goes up. And of course, sales go up.

If you want some help, then in order to springboard your viral marketing you should add an element of curiosity, scarcity or controversy to your efforts, and especially to your copy. (By the way, why do you think most “how to” types of information products are sold on the basis of “secrets” they contain? People are just plain curious — it’s human nature.)

For one, you can generate curiosity by adding a sense of mystery or the unexpected to your message, even an oddity or incomplete story — one that only you, your product or your site can complete.

Then leverage your marketing by using tools that can help the viral process — and you will multiply your visibility quite rapidly. In addition to referral traffic generators, strategic alliances and affiliate programs, these specific tools can be used to stimulate both curiosity and third party referrals.

Write an ebook. Program a mini-app. Offer a checklist. Record a video. And distribute them freely…

… It just might “set up you the sales.”

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, consultant, and CEO of The Success Doctor, Inc. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

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