Why You Don’t Need To Be Harry Potter To Succeed

Dear Reader,

I hope that you spent the weekend somewhere cool and refreshing, even if it was in your bathtub.

In New York City, it was a scorcher!

It was in the 90s and so humid you could almost see the tar on the street start to bubble.

Earlier in the week while the sun played hide and seek with the rain, Harry Potter flew to 22nd Street and Fifth Avenue just south of the Flatiron building.

To be clear, Neither Harry nor any actor claiming to represent him actually arrived at the former Restoration Hardware Store that runs the entire block from Fifth to Broadway.

Nor did this location provide any inspiration for the bestselling series such as the Biblotecha Joanina library at Coimbra University or the ornate bookstore, Livraria Lello, in Porto. Places that author J. K. Rowling visited while teaching English in Portugal in the 1990s.

It’s just a store selling Harry Potter-inspired merchandise at premium prices. Okay, they also serve ice cream and special drinks.

For Wednesday’s preview opening, special guests were granted entry to the shop by well-dressed bouncers and attracted gawkers.

By contrast, to gain entrance to the public opening on Friday, June 4th, the line circled twice around the block, according to one of the security guards. A couple of the women waiting across the street under the scaffolding of the Flatiron Building told me that they arrived at 10 am to get their entry pass. At that time, they were told that they had at least an 8 hour wait.

Kudos to J. K. Rowling for inventing Harry Potter while she was unemployed. If you’re looking to change your content into revenue, take a page from Joe Pulizzi, the godfather of content marketing.

When Harry first made his debut, I sold the books for Bertelsmann. I could bury the promotion and it still went gangbusters.

Actionable Marketing Tip:

• Coordinate your other media to get the maximum reach for your events. The owners of the Harry Potter Experience used paid out-of-home space on the adjacent building to spotlight the opening. The sign had high visibility from the front of the Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park – A major Manhattan tourist destination.

While I truly wish that I could cast a Hogwarts success spell for you and your offering, the truth is that Harry Potter-level marketing success is very rare. So putting your effort into trying to create the next Harry Potter is a waste of your time and money.

While a girl can still hope, I strongly recommend the much slower road to marketing success. This involves building your audience one person at a time. (And, to tell you the truth, that’s what Harry Potter does, it’s just that he reaches a much wider audience.)

With each person, you build a relationship just as you would do in real life. By showing up consistently and giving them your attention over time. This is the most direct route to creating trust.

In today’s post-pandemic world, trust is scarce and, often, badly battered due to shortfalls in social and governmental spheres combined with increased fake news and privacy concerns.

Once you win over your visitors and turn them into prospects, you must deliver on your promises. This means showing up on a regular basis, being present in the moment, and not overpromising.

Actionable Marketing Tip:

• Create high-quality content delivered on a regular schedule.

 

Voice Marketing

Last Friday, we had a lively conversation on VoiceLunch Marketing about Marketing Persona.

What comes to your mind when I say Marketing Persona?  Drama?
As William Shatner said at Content Marketing World:

When playing a role, the actor must innately understand what the character feels and thinks to inform the actor’s verbal and non-verbal communication.

Here’s the challenge with Marketing Personas – most content marketers use it as a fill in the blanks exercise. But you must actually talk to and observe your customers in action in order for personas to be effective.

BUT when you add voice, marketing persona becomes more complex since the number of factors associated with conversation increases exponentially.

Before you rely on your existing marketing personas, take the time to talk to a few of your best customers.

Why?
Because their needs may have changed during the past 18 months and you need to know what they expect or want from you.

 

 

Welcome new subscribers: Mirriam, Jonathan, Tracy, Kris, Jenna, Martey, Virginia, Pgs, Yash, Swetha, Em, Ben, Lindsay, Janet, Yuliya and Matt.

Please stay healthy and safe.

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Happy Marketing,
Heidi

P.S.: Want Heidi Cohen to contribute a quote or other commentary to your next article, presentation, video, research and/or book? Then hit reply to this email and ask.

P.P.S: Did you miss last week’s AMG Newsletter?
Previous newsletters can be found in the AMG Newsletter Archive.

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Welcome Mat Photo via Mabel Amber – https://www.pexels.com/photo/jetty-feet-sign-wooden-128299/ cc zero

The fine print