1. Come Up With the Core Concept

The core idea behind your viral campaign should be something that’s completely unique. Or it can be a twist on an extremely popular idea.

It helps to know your audience really well to come up with these ideas. Playing off existing memes can really help viral campaigns take off.

2. Know the Viral Space

What tends to go viral? As a rule of thumb, things that are really shocking, funny, interesting or unique can really go viral. Also, things that are geek-funny can do very well on Reddit and Digg.

If you don’t regularly visit sites like Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon, start doing so right away. It’s the only way you’ll truly understand what your audience is looking for.

3. Plan Your Distribution

Before you create your content, plan where you want to distribute it.

Are you going to put it on StumbleUpon? On Digg? On Reddit? On YouTube?

There are specific strategies you can employ with each strategy to try to get more exposure. For example, StumbleUpon’s paid stumble system works quite well, while Reddit’s still needs some work.

On some systems, buying a high reputation account to post your content from can dramatically increase your chances of ranking.

4. Creating Your Content

Create your content. Put a lot of time, energy and attention into the actual content piece. It’s more important than anything else, including strategy planning.

If possible, try to create your content in such a way that there can be a Part 2. That way you can easily piggyback off a successful campaign.

Try not to brand your first run. Don’t put your logo on your infographics and don’t put your brand in your YouTube videos. Instead, come back and add them in later. Self-promotion is very much frowned upon in social bookmarking communities.

5. The Launch!

Launch your viral campaign and keep a very, very close eye on it. A lot of opportunities can float by if you’re not keeping tabs on it.

Anytime someone links to you, send them a “Thank You” note. Start to build a relationship with them. Don’t just get that one link from them; it can easily turn into many more links.

Watch your server closely. If you hit the front page of Reddit or Digg, you can literally receive 100,000+ hits in a few hours. That can easily crash shared hosting, VPS hosting and even dedicated servers.

If you watch your launch carefully and maximize your returns while minimizing problems, provided you have good content, you stand a good chance of going viral.

Here’s how.

1. Change Your Industry

One reason profits might be down is if the entire industry has been hit. If everyone else in your industry is having a hard time as well, what can you do? The answer is – change industries.

Of course, you can’t very well switch to a completely foreign industry and abandon all your contacts and clients. Instead, try switching to a related industry.

When the economy crashed in 2008, many of the “help men get dates” businesses took a huge hit. Many businesses that used to be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month were suddenly struggling.

What did one successful entrepreneur do? He moved into the “help women get dates” industry. The move turned out brilliantly and helped him save his business.

No matter what industry you’re in, there are probably half a dozen side industries you could move into. If your main industry is having trouble, try expanding to a different industry.

2. Launch a New Product

Nothing brings in new energy like the launching of a new product.

Apple had been struggling for some time before the iPod came out. The Apple 3 was a colossal failure, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The drama of Steve Jobs leaving and then coming back cost the company dearly in bad PR.

But the iPod, and eventually the iPhone, changed all that. The launch of a new product brought a lot of new excitement to the table.

The same applies to smaller businesses. What new products or projects can you announce that would get people excited?

3. Try New Marketing Channels

What are two or three kinds of marketing channels you’ve never tried before, that are completely outside the scope of what you’ve done in the past?

For example, if you’ve done SEO and PPC, why not try advertising in a college newspaper? Or buy remnant radio ad space?

If you’ve only tried buying advertising in the past, why not try partnering for a big joint venture deal? Or try guest blogging on a few big sites?

One reason for declining profits might be that your marketing “formula” just isn’t working out right. Instead of making tweaks, try making big changes to see what works and what doesn’t.

Changing these three things – your industry, your product and your marketing – can really help get both the excitement and cashflow up again.

1. Plan. Many people try to start a business with little more than a few notes scratched on paper. Some don’t even take it that far. They keep their plan in their head. That’s a mistake. In order to get your business off the ground you have to start with a solid foundation. That’s the job of your business plan.

Your business plan is essentially an outline of everything you need to start and grow your business. Please don’t skip this step. It doesn’t need to be a formal preparation. However it should be organized so you can refer to your plan regularly. Keep it on your computer or in a notebook where you have easy access.

Your plan will cover everything from your home office equipment to your sales and income goals. You’ll plan how you’re going to achieve your goals too. Your business plan is your roadmap to success. Create one before you start the launch process.

2. Budget. One of the reasons most businesses fail is because they don’t take budgeting seriously. They don’t pay attention to cash flow. They spend more than they have. Before you launch your business know how much money you have right now to start it.

Know how much money you need each month to maintain it. Know how much money you need to make to grow your business. Also, pay attention to your savings. You may have a few months where you don’t make any profits at all. Do you have money in savings to tide you over?

Budgets are essential. They’ll help you keep out of debt. Debt can pull an otherwise successful business under. Create a budget, stick to it and get your business off the ground successfully.

3. Research. Know your audience. Know your unique selling point. Know who your competition is. Research is an important part of the planning and launching phase. You want to be able to position your company perfectly. Customers will know you exist. Your competition will be a non-issue and you’ll achieve your initial business goals quickly and easily. Spend time researching and planning! It’s vital to your success.

Finally, check your mindset. Mindset is everything. Know you can start and grow a successful business. Visualize your success. Yes, starting a business is work but you can do it. When you are prepared for the process, confident and positive you can accomplish anything.

You don’t want to fail. You want to succeed. When you know why entrepreneurs fail, you can properly prepare for success. Here are the top reasons why entrepreneurs fail.

1. Lack of research – It’s vitally important to make sure there’s a market for your business before you launch. You have to research both demand and supply. Who is providing the same products or service? What problem are you solving for people? Who are your prospects?The research phase of launching a business is one of the most critical. Without proper research into supply and demand, you’re not going to be able to position your business successfully. Very few businesses succeed without solid initial research.If you’re unsure how to research your business idea, talk to an expert. Get help. Speak to other entrepreneurs you trust. You don’t have to share your idea with others, but rather learn how to research your idea.
2. They don’t understand their market – This also relates to research but it’s a different kind of research. Before you launch your business, it’s vital that you know exactly who you’re marketing to. Why? Because you need to position your product or service to meet their needs. If you don’t understand their needs, you may miss out on profits.
3. They don’t understand cash flow – Cash flow is essential to survival. Actually, poor cash management is perhaps the most common reason for business failure. Entrepreneurs must create a budget. They have to be realistic about how much they expect to earn. And they must have a tight rein on their expenses. In order to pay the bills, you need to have cash coming in on a regular basis. Cash flow is essential to survival.
4. An inability to market – Not everyone is a marketing genius. It’s important to realize that marketing is essential to success. If you don’t have a solid marketing plan, your business will not thrive. In business, the old “if you build it they will come” mentality just doesn’t work. If you don’t like or understand marketing, then hire someone who does.
5. No business plan – Many people believe that a business plan is only necessary if you’re seeking funding. This is not true. In order to achieve your goals, it’s important to plan how you’re going to succeed. Your business plan is your road map to success. Don’t skip this important step.

Take heart and think positively. While one in five businesses fail, the others succeed. Research, plan, and understand your market. Commit to marketing and manage your accounts with solid accounting and cash flow management. You’re destined for success!

The idea that the cyclical nature of the economy makes recessions a great time for entrepreneurs goes as follows; the economy runs in ups and downs. Right now it’s down, but it won’t be forever. It will recover, likely to a point even stronger than it once was. Why is this good for entrepreneurs? Because starting a business now, while the economy is down, means that your business will be established when the economy recovers, making the timing perfect for explosive growth or even better, to sell!

In theory, this is actually a fairly valid point. After all, if you start a business in a boom and your growth is strong, when the next recession hits, you’ll have to hold on to that struggling business and deal with all the problems established business deal with in recession, and hope for the best. If you want to sell, you’ll either have sell in a buyers market like no other, or you’ll just have to wait! However, if you start your business in a recession, it’s the opposite.

Your costs are low because you’re still small. You won’t have to worry about layoffs and massive cost cutting, because you’re haven’t incurred enough major operating costs or enough staff to make it necessary. If you can grow your business a bit and establish yourself in the hard times, when the good times roll out again (and most people decide to launch start-ups), you’ll be in good shape to take advantage of all the associated opportunities. If you decide to sell, you’ll be selling an established business in a time when money is flowing and the market is in your favor as a seller.

The unfortunate part is that it’s not as easy to launch a successful start-up when the collective chips are down. Capital is hard enough to come by when the economy is doing alright, let alone when people are being squeezed. Angels and VC firms won’t be investing as much as they would be in good times, and sources of funding closer to home like friends and relatives will probably be even more dried up.

Boot-strapping will be an absolute necessity, and money will be extremely tight. It won’t be easy to get off the ground and get going, but it’s far from impossible. So if you’ve got an idea on the shelf that you thought you’d leave for a sunnier time, dust off and seriously analyze whether or not you could get it going, even in a limited form, with the means available to you now. If the answer is yes, it could result in a serious advantage down the road.

The second argument the author of the article made in favor of our current situation was related to hiring and the amount of talent available. So it goes, and logically so, the massive amounts of layoffs that have been going on have freed up a lot of very talented people from the jobs that once made them inaccessible to you. Likewise, the lack of jobs out there right now due to companies restricting hiring have lowered the compensation expectations of this newly available talent to levels far below the salaries they’d demand in prosperous times.

What does this add up to? Talented, cheap, available professionals who may very well now be in your price range, which they weren’t four years ago, and probably won’t be four years from now. So hunt them down. Best case scenario, your business takes off and when times get good, you’ll be able to afford their inflated expectations. Worst case scenario, you won’t be able to afford them, they’ll leave, but you’ll still have had a top notch professional working for your business for as long as they’re around, and the impact they may have could be substantial.

Again, it’s a little easier said than done. Hiring the right people is always difficult regardless of the economic situation businesses face, but the fact remains, the level of talent available at a certain compensation level will always be higher during recessionary times than it will in prosperous times. A top notch pro who demands $150,000 a year when things are good may very well accept $85,000 a year to come work for you after their old company is forced to cut them loose. So if by some form of magic you have money to spare in your hiring budget, do NOT horde it. Spend it. It may be the best money you spend during the entire recession.

First of all, and most importantly in my opinion, equity financing can bring highly valuable knowledge and experience on board. If you can obtain an investor with relevant knowledge or experience in the field of your start-up, or even just in general business, it can be one of the best moves your company can make. When an investor comes on board, they put their money on the line and take a vested interest in seeing your company succeed. You could stand to benefit a lot by having someone on board with enough knowledge, experience or connections to help your business get off the ground. That person or group could end up being your company’s most valuable asset.

Secondly, as mentioned earlier, equity investment doesn’t come with the nagging possibility of going broke and being stuck having to pay back a lender. Anyone who comes on board as an investor will generally do so fully understanding that they’ve assumed the same risk you have, which is that the possibility of failure is ever-present. Knowing this can be comforting in the start-up stages when things are unstable, especially if you’ve decided to go into business in a risky field. Keep in mind though, the riskier the business, the bigger a piece of the pie the investor will likely ask for in exchange for their investment dollars.

So there are definitely very real advantages to equity financing, and it very well may be right for you. The purpose of this series of posts was simply to get you to realize that debt financing also has a set of very real upsides. Neither debt nor equity is superior to the other, they’re simply different. As such, it’s important that you thoroughly investigate your options with both when looking for capital for your business. Don’t just jump on the equity train because it seems to be the popular choice. The benefits of debt (benefits of debt…that just sounds strange) may very well make it the choice for you!