Great example of viral marketing. And for a good cause!

Are you hip to MacHeist? For the second year running, order MacHeist here, get great software and benefit one (or all) of ten charities of your choice.

However, the group behind this program does very little marketing, relying instead on word of mouth. And succeeding brilliantly. Here are five reasons how MacHeist leverages viral media to its advantage and how you can too:

• Offer value 14 useful shareware programs for 49 bucks is a great deal. Many sell individually for close to that amount. Who doesn’t want to brag, er… tell their friends they got a killer deal?
• Ask customers to tell their friends It’s amazing how few events ask customers to pass information along. You can’t gain traction virally if people don’t think to pass your message along.
• Give customers an incentive for telling their friends If asking doesn’t work, bribe customers to tell their friends. MacHeist gives folks who get their friends to buy get access to additional software, one extra for the first order and a second for the second. (That applies to me too if you order yours here).
• Timebomb the offer MacHeist stops offering this deal in just under 24 hours. Exclusivity works to heighten the interest level – and the “how cool am I?” factor for your customers.
• Appeal to emotion While viral media typically depends on humor for its emotional punch, MacHeist uses a charity appeal. They’ve raised over $300,000 and contribute 25% of each sale to charity. What makes customers feel better than helping others (and saving money doing it)?

Word of mouth is some of the best marketing your brand can get. And these tips can help you build word of mouth for your brand.