In a recent study by Marketing Sherpa, reproduced in the Marketing Pilgrim, it appears that viral video is taking off, albeit a little slower than expected. Almost 30% of marketers polled reported great results from their viral video campaigns. Only two forms of promotion received a better reception; micro sites developed for a specific product or launch with the “cool factor”, and online games or puzzles. It seems that the downside of this poll is that if you put out a dull video no-one will watch it.

Given that two thirds of the people who responded to this poll reported that they were planning on a video marketing campaign this year, the message is clear. Do an interesting guerrilla video and take advantage of the window of opportunity that video presents.

Ikea is getting in on the craze of consumer generated content and viral marketing by gathering home made videos of people coming up with innovative ways of making a bed. The winning entry walks off with $5,000, but what does Ikea get out of the deal? A lot more than $5,000. People are undoubtedly going to come up with strange and unusual videos that will spread like wildfire and promote the IKEA brand all over the internet. So why are more companies not doing this? Beats me. Every company that brands its products and wants to be well known should be using blogs and video optimization as a matter of course.

According to the Consumer Internet Barometer, shoppers are becoming increasingly accustomed to incentives like free shipping and free return postage. Over 90% of shoppers said that free shipping would incent them to buy, while 65% mentioned that if they had a special incentive availble online that was not available in brick and mortar locations, then they also would be more likely to make their purchases online. Return postage was also mentioned as a prime motivator.

What does that mean for your e-tail business? Are you offering these kinds of incentives? How are you telling your clients? Are you using viral marketing? If you have a blog with subscribers, you can inform your buyers via email or RSS, that you are offering a special or incentive . They in turn will tell their friends and people in their sphere of influence. You announce a great promotion. Spread the news using subscriptions and RSS. Even better, do a video product release, and spread your message or promotion using video optimization.

It looks like Firefox is getting involved in delivering Fan Based TV commercials to select local markets in the US. The ads will be done by advocates of the browser, of which I am one, and will focus on spreading the message that the user experience on Firefox is superior to that of other browsers, notably Internet Explorer. Obviously this is a smart move by Mozilla, as they will undoubtedly increase market share by embracing new marketing methods. Retailers should pay attention to what is going on here. Video and video optimization is here to stay. US households have the bandwidth and they want to see and share videos that they find interesting. It is the purest form of viral marketing around. All retailers need is an expert in the field to make sure they are taking advantage of this competitive edge. Triangle Direct Media is that company.