Marketing Lessons from a Galaxy Far, Far Away….

We made it through another week. Summer is definitely in the air and Happy Star Wars Day – May the Fourth be with you!!!!

That’s what tonight’s blog is about – the lessons direct marketers can take away from the success of Star Wars and all of it’s marketing tie-ins.

Let’s start out with a great image that I saw a few days ago. The tie-in is ready made, but the popularity of the SW series is what makes this a truly effective marketing effort for both the movie and the product.

Let’s take this analogy, all the way back to May 25th, 1977. On that date, Episode 4: A New Hope was released. At the time George Lucas was pitching the idea, Hollywood executives thought “it could be a good idea….” or it would be “low-budget, Roger Corman style.” Imagine what those executive are thinking now 41 years later.

So my first point on how the SW series is inspirational is don’t listen to the naysayers. If you believe your marketing idea or firm is a concept that can work and succeed, keep pushing for it and make people see the brilliance you see.

We all know what happened after 1977 – the movie became a world-wide phenomena and spawned 2 amazing sequels, a prequel series, cartoons, a really terrible (but one I love) Christmas Special and most recently, two newer films.

But more importantly, think of all the ancillary products the series has spawn – action figures, posters, lunch boxes, etc – all with the SW logo and branding in full and plain sight. Originally, only Kenner was given rights to manufacture the action figures – a company that Lucas trusted with his vision.

How can marketers learn from this?

Well, partner with companies you have used and whose products and services you trust. See below for an example of this. Bedford Street Marketing, LLC has over 2 decades of experience in direct marketing strategy, but by partnering with a company we trust – we can also offer clients the ability to build their own website, get corporate email packages, web hosting services, and much more. Not only does it enhance our portfolio – but it enhances the reputation of the company we are working with as well.

I may sound like a broken record on this point – but it comes back to branding. Your brand has to be strong and people have to trust it to want to interact with it.

In the first month of really actively promoting Bedford Street Marketing, LLC on social media, I’ve seen my followers on twitter (st_beford) and Instagram (streetbedford) grow to over 400 and 300 respectively. I attribute much of that growth to having a clear branding goal. It’s not to constantly post about how people should work with us (overly promotional). It’s been attained by posting a mixture of humorous images, insightful quotes and industry articles that matter to the audience we are trying to reach. It’s about building that bridge that will lead them to want to interact with Bedford Street Marketing.

Regarding the logo, we, like George Lucas, try to incorporate our logo on all our post images. Building that familiarity is key to branding. The logo has to match our corporate goals and it seems to be working.

Well, it’s 7PM on a Friday, so let me close this by saying even in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away….. there are always entrepreneurial an marketing lessons to be learned!!!