Over the past couple of years, Marvel has made its way from an exclusive of nerd basements (like mine) to the forefront of mainstream entertainment. They have become one of the greatest forces in Hollywood, and a titan of a marketing machine as a subsidiary to Disney. But endlessly most memorable are the campy capers of Marvel’s most heroic hype-man, Stan Lee. Let’s learn his four fantastic fundamentals.
- Be Familiar With The Flaws Stan Lee helped build Marvel by building great teams. However, he was also the first to introduce a flawed hero. Those teams succeeded by knowing one another’s flaws and compensating for them well. If your marketing is to be successful, you’ve got to do the same.
- Build Community From the point that Stan Lee became editor, Marvel has connected its team with its readers. On the back page of every issue, the Bullpen Bulletins page would share stories, credits, and other communication from inside Marvel out to its fans, keeping them connected. Content that creates community is key to quality marketing.
- Amazing Alliteration Stan Lee is the king of memorable language. Both his characters and his lines in movies are filled with intense alliteration. It’s not that the bouncing nature of the phrases that are important, but the ease of memorization. These catchy lines are paramount in creating the kind of content that your community craves connection with (hint: try it in an email subject).
- Have A System There were limited skills and limited deadlines at Marvel early on. Stan devised a method to fix the problem by creating a format for the plot scripts. He didn’t want the creativity to be wasted on what should “probably” happen next, but rather wanted it spent devising how the plot would happen, making the stories more interesting in less time. Use the same plan on your own marketing content to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.
We want to hear from you! What do you think about Stan Lee’s marketing method? Do you think these strategies will work well in any setting? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and share it with a friend so we can hear from them too. Have an awesome Tuesday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
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