The Force Awakens cost $245 million dollars to make. And it cost between $100-150 million dollars to advertise.
More than one-third of their total expenditure on that movie was in advertising.
Surprised?
Even though The Force Awakens seems like a no-brainer for success, Disney invested more than $100 million in promotion. And this percentage is typical of major motion pictures, who routinely spend 1/3 of their production costs again to market their films. In the case of The Force Awakens, the investment was well worth it: Disney has raked in more than $2 billion dollars in global sales. Now while we don’t all need to go out there and make $2 billion dollars, the lesson from this blockbuster is applicable to all of us: it’s not enough to be awesome; to be successful, you must significantly invest in advertising your awesomeness.
You cannot take success (and word of mouth) for granted. Disney didn’t sit back and say, “Well, heck, everyone in the world has been waiting for this movie since those terrible prequels; we’ll be fine!” It’s no longer enough to create a great product and hope people hear about it. In a noisy world, only the loudest and most persistent voice gets heard. Marketing – for better or worse – is an essential component of doing business. Here are four tips to get you started.
Rule of Thirds
If you are an entrepreneur and doing a lot of your work yourself, then it’s important to allocate some substantial work time to growing your business and online presence. Spending time and resources on marketing can feel counterintuitive; after all, I’d much rather spend three hours developing and editing curriculum than figuring out how to promote my Facebook page!
Do the “rule of thirds” reframe to shift your perspective.
You may have heard of the rule of thirds in photography: divide your frame into thirds and place your object of interest along an intersection. Now you can think of the rule of thirds for your marketing strategy. One third of your resources needs to go into marketing. Not only your money, but your time. If you’re working a nine-hour day, spend three of it on your marketing strategy. For the agile, DIY entrepreneur, this may mean that you spend a couple hours each day engaging with social media. Plan on spending a third of your budget on advertising and promotion.
Cross-promote
The big blockbuster movies don’t pay out of pocket for their advertising: they cross-promote. By partnering up with other vendors and products, they help to defray their own marketing costs with a little win-win. Take a lesson from the big boys: find similar vendors who would find an alliance with you advantageous and create partnerships that help you both.
Delegate
As entrepreneurs, we often feel that we need to do everything to get our small business to run. But once you accept that marketing is a high priority, you may realize that creating a team of helpers can save you time, money, and effort. Hiring a marketing strategist can help you to make sure that you are putting your precious time and effort in the right place. There’s nothing worse than spending a lot of time on marketing, only to have your strategy fail. Consider how much your own time is worth. If you can hire someone to do some legwork for you at the right price, having some marketing hands in you corner may help you to focus on what you do best. Use automated services like Planoly and Hootsuite to batch your advertising tasks and save you time.
Be consistent
Marketing can be exhausting. However, it’s not just the loudest horn that gets heard; it’s the most consistent horn. Set yourself up for success (and avoid burn out) by creating a slow and steady marketing strategy that allows you to stay in for the long haul. Cultivate patience. Be the consistent horn.
Regardless of whether you have a $100 or $1 million dollar marketing budget, the lesson is the same: marketing oomph is essential if you want to be successful.
Take it slow, have a plan, delegate when possible, and shine your light!
Are you a yoga educator? To hear more on marketing your educational courses, check out Marketing For Success.
