Many people who are familiar with Internet Marketing or Internet Business still don’t have a firm grasp on viral marketing and why it is so valuable to those in Internet marketing or Internet business.

Let’s start off by covering the basics of what viral marketing is to better help you understand the hype.  The term viral marketing is used for any marketing strategy that encourages the recipient of a marketing message to pass it along others.

This creates the potential for a great deal of growth in the message’s exposure and impact.  It is called "viral" marketing because of the rapid rate at which the message can be spread.

Viral marketing’s success is dependent on the message containing something that the recipient finds worth passing along to others.

It could be an offer such as buy-one-get-one-free, 15% off your next purchase or a free subscription to a publication.

Whatever the case may be, it must be something people feel the urge to pass on to others.

Viral marketing has proven its usefulness as a marketing tool over the course of many, many years.

Statistics show that over 90% of people say they would recommend a web site, product or service to someone they know if they were given a good deal or quality service or products while only 1% of people reported that they would recommend a website, product or service if they were dissatisfied.

The one fact that is probably more attractive than any other about viral marketing is that it is a relatively inexpensive marketing method.

The greatest cost involved is that of the time spent creating the offer to be sent out.

There are no real advertising costs to be incurred because you’re sending your message out predominantly via e-mail, unlike paying for exposure such as additional web space or advertisements in ezines.

Knowing what you know now it’s easy to see what all the hype is about.