It was a delicious day in December when I received a starter of friendship bread. This stuff was scrumptious. More like coffee cake than bread, I was happy to put the time in to prepare and share it.  As the 10 days passed, I realized that this bread lends itself perfectly to viral marketing; viral marketing is where your target audience continues to promote your product, or service, on your behalf, because they enjoy or value it enough to do so.  I shared my starters and the bread with my friends here at DBS.  Friendship bread is so good, you want to share it, and going through the process allows you to make the bread every 10 days.
The Amish probably never had viral marketing in mind when they started making and giving out the bread starters.  This is reflected in the main pitfall many viral marketing campaigns fall into.  There is no objective beyond sharing the bread, and a quick look online reveals many separate sources for the bread. People are sharing them, but there isn’t an Amish bread maker who is benefitting from it, which may be good for the Amish, but not for us.  That’s where DBS Viral Marketing bread will be different.  Our goal is to reach out to businesses and individuals interested in viral and social media marketing, and network with other social media and online marketing professionals.

To do so we have done several things:

1.    We’ve made nicknames for each starter we send out. Please copy the nickname onto your starters so we can roughly map the travel of the bread starters.

2.    We are asking that you link to our site with your blog, or Facebook page as a means of bookmarking the instructions.

3.    We would also love you to comment on the post to let us know the nickname of your bread starter, who you are, and if you used a different recipe.  For instance, some people prefer to use applesauce instead of oil, and there are a ton of variants on the main recipe online, such as a chocolate version.  These recipes are easily found online, and if you find one you like, please post the day 10 instruction differences in our comment section below, or blog them and post the link to your instructions.   When we revisit this post later in the year, we’ll give kudos and/or links to our favorite recipes.

These steps create goals for our viral marketing campaign.  Beyond building brand recognition, the steps allow us to connect in a meaningful way with professionals in our field, network with prospective business partners for DBS, acquire some links, and hopefully add a few more RSS subscriptions for our blog.  Our ultimate goal is to share our expertise with you, along with some delicious bread that I hope you’ll enjoy.

DBS Viral Marketing Bread Instructions
*Do NOT use anything metal to make this recipe.
*Do NOT refrigerate. Room temperature makes for happy bread.
* It’s normal for air to build up in the bag as the yeast grows. Just let it out when you mash the bag

Day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.
Days 2-5:
Mush the bag
Day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Mush the bag
Days 7-9:
Mush the bag
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 4 cups and place 1 cup each into gallon zip-locked bags.  Make sure you label the dates correctly to let others know when to add the ingredients (day 1 follows day 10). You’ll also see a nickname written on the bag. Please copy that nickname onto your starter so we can track where the bread is spreading.

Pass the bread and a link to this page to four friends or business associates, or keep one bag for you to repeat this tasty process.  Don’t forget to link and/or comment on our blog post.
For the remaining batter, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and add:
•    1 cup oil
•    1/2 cup milk
•    3 eggs
•    1 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the following
•    2 cups flour
•    1 cup sugar
•    1-1/2 tsp baking powder
•    2 tsp cinnamon
•    1/2 tsp baking soda
•    1 – Large (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
•    1/2 tsp salt
•    1 cup nuts (optional)
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans (mix cinnamon and brown sugar for best results), or one 13×9 inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
If you have a question about viral marketing or online marketing in general, please let us know.  And if you’d like a starter of your own, email me with your contact information at clay@dbsinteractive.com.

Clay Marshall

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