There is no room for failure – it’s an idea that gets thrown around a lot in marketing meetings. And it makes sense to think that way, right? Since so much planning goes into even the smallest detail of a campaign, it’s only natural to want to maximize your success. But, in their attempt to make everything go perfect, marketers and brands alike have become afraid of taking risks.
As a result, most marketing campaigns seem like they’ve been copied and pasted from the same guidebook. There’s little deviation from the common approach marketers use to promote a brand. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with focusing on crafting great content, using social media strategically, and getting people to talk about you. But where’s the creativity?

Finding Comfort in Failing
It’s not just advisable for marketers and brands to take risks; it’s almost imperative they do so. When everyone is singing the same tune, it can be rather difficult for consumers to identify an individual voice. That’s not an ideal scenario.

Industries like digital marketing, advertising, or product innovation are growing fast, and the rules keep changing. Your job isn’t just to follow the guidelines, but also anticipate what will happen next and stay ahead of the game.

Being groundbreaking is almost impossible when the fear of taking risks doesn’t allow you to move forward. Here’s the thing: failing isn’t a show stopper, but an opportunity to learn. It’s impossible to assess whether something will work or not unless it’s put to the test.

Marketers and advertising agencies have a lot of resources at their disposal to test the water before going public with new and ingenious campaigns, but often they don’t. And, that’s a shame considering that it can help you figure out what consumers want, especially now when they have learned how to tune out aggressive marketing messages and are looking for genuine communication with brands.

Failing Is Not the End
When the Gap changed its logo back in 2010, it wasn’t just that people didn’t like it – it sprung outrage. The logo itself wasn’t the catalyst for public discontent (though people had a blast criticizing it on social media), but how they handled it. The company asked people to send in their logo suggestions, which in turn sparked a lot of criticism, with some even saying the entire thing was just a marketing scheme to get a rebrand for free.

As you might already know, the Gap is still going strong. The failure didn’t push the brand into oblivion, but it made it more aware of one simple fact: if your audience feels you’re dishonest, they will reprimand you for it. The same things happened with the Tropicana repackaging or Pepsi rebranding. All three brands were suddenly confronted with the clear possibility of failure, and yet all three managed to overcome these stepping stones and continue to thrive.

If there’s any take away from this text, it’s this: failure isn’t as deadly as you’d think, as long as you learn your lessons from it.

How to Make It Go “Viral”
Search for “how to go viral” on Google, and you will get over 15 million results and a seemingly endless list of blog posts, articles, or studies presenting with great precision the steps you need to take to reach a massive audience. It seems that everyone and their mother wants to learn how to create viral content.

Marketers know this scenario all too well: a client, at one point, will express their desire to make their brand viral. Even those who don’t bother with the intricacies of marketing know that once you have a piece of content disseminated on a large scale by people, you’ve made it big. But is viral content something that you can control or, better yet, craft at wish?

How to Make Something Viral
At least, in theory, marketing agencies know how to make a video, post, ad, or any form of content go viral. It’s not exactly a secret recipe – a short analysis of previous viral materials can result in a lot of useful information on how to make a particular brand famous.

So, how do they do it?

Well, they’ll most likely carve out a strategy that will contain everything from what words to use in the headline, what Social Media platform to use, and when to publish the content or launch the campaign to get the biggest impact. They’ll look at popular trends online and try to integrate them without making it look forced.

While all these tactics can certainly boost up the visibility of your campaign, there’s no guarantee it will take the internet by storm. Celebrities or big brands that already have a generous following have a better chance of creating content that will spread like wildfire. Those with a modest follower count, however, have to rely on luck.

Here’s the thing: there are an average 6000 tweets posted per second, totaling up to roughly 500 million tweets per day. And, don’t let us get started on other social media platforms. The amount of content posted every day is insane. One truth that you must accept is that the internet is unpredictable.

So, Should You Try It?
There’s nothing wrong with contacting a marketing agency and hiring them to plan a campaign for your brand, obviously. But going into the meeting with the sole intent of becoming viral can bring to light some disappointing outcomes.

Marketers know the odds of a smaller brand going viral. It’s not great – let us tell you just that. Unless you’re Beyonce or Pepsi, you can’t make something go viral.

What You Can Do
Instead of focusing on quick ways to get viral, talk to an agency or marketers about a campaign that can generate some buzz around your brand the old-fashioned way: by going directly to the people interested in what you’re offering.

Sure, you won’t be taking over the internet, but you can still gain some visibility and status. So, try to think long-term and focus on tactics that although don’t bring impressive results quickly can help scale your business.