One marketing lesson to rule them all, one—wait, no…wrong movie. From ax-wielding dwarves to staff-bearing wizards, a trek across Middle Earth is quite an adventure. But while a quest from another realm may seem worlds away from the online marketing field, the two are more alike than you might think.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved children’s book (and recent film adaptation by Peter Jackson) The Hobbit has much to teach us about bravery, friendship, and the fight for right. But amidst these adventurous tales, you will also find a lesson or two on good online marketing principles. Check out these four marketing lessons from The Hobbit, and discover how you can succeed even against great odds.
1. Play to Your Strengths
As The Hobbit has demonstrated, strength and victory don’t always come in grand campaigns; sometimes it is through small and unlikely packages that the day is won. For example, though a hobbit is a seemingly unassuming character, upon closer inspection you realize that they have many unique strengths. In Bilbo’s case, he was small and stealthy, and empowered by the simple courage and goodness of his people—all excellent qualities for a “burglar” tasked with sneaking past a live dragon.
Though you may not have to challenge a real life dragon, you will certainly have your own professional dragons to face. For your marketing quest, take time to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Take advantage of the resources and unique qualities you possess to reach out effectively to your target market. Whether you are a large company or a small startup, focus on your core strengths and highlight them in your campaign. And just remember: You don’t have to be big to make a big difference.
2. Success is a Group Effort
Bilbo’s successes in The Hobbit could not have happened without the support and efforts of his friends and companions. Similarly, success in online marketing is a group effort. Take time to build your network of friends, colleagues, and followers. Reach out through email, social media, and your blog to connect to your readers and encourage them to subscribe.
Enlist the help of your network to spread the word about your blog by utilizing calls to action in your blog posts, surveying your customers/readers, and asking for feedback. Positive online reviews are an excellent way to build your brand and boost your online reputation. Even SEO companies like Boostability can benefit from positive reviews. A simple Google search for “Boostability reviews,” for example, will bring up multiple results for customer reviews. Reach out to your online community to garner similar feedback.
Just don’t forget to take their suggestions into account to improve your blog and your users’ experiences. As you do so, you will expand your network and build a stronger community. And the bigger your network, the more opportunities for growth—both for your blog or website, and your business.
3. Darkness Never Wins the Day
Though the forces of darkness are powerful and oftentimes seem overwhelming, The Hobbit teaches us that good always triumphs. When the dragon Smaug takes to the sky and wreaks havoc on Laketown, all it took to claim the victory was one sharp arrow. And fortunately, this truth is not just a part of fairytales. In online marketing, there are good guys and bad guys. Make sure your arrows fly true and that don’t find yourself on the wrong team.
The dark side of online marketing is also known as black hat SEO. Their strategies revolve around the dishonest practices of keyword-stuffing, adding invisible text, and using doorway pages to essentially trick the search engines into ranking sites higher in the SERPs. While this can work for a time, these strategies do not draw in quality traffic and provide little to no value to the users.
Fortunately, as Google and other major search engines make the change to more content-focused ranking factors, it will become increasingly difficult for the darkness to prevail. If you want to be caught on the victorious side of this battle, stick to honest and ethical marketing practices. It might take you a little longer to struggle to the top, but you can get there—and stay there—over time.
4. You Must Be Consistent
When it comes to almost anything in life, consistency and diligence tends to be key. Throughout The Hobbit, Bilbo and his company of dwarves, elves, men, and wizards came across many challenges. More than once, these courageous warriors were tempted to give up and surrender their cause. However, their story teaches us that if you never give up and see your cause through to the end, great rewards lie in store.
As you work towards building your online presence and improving your blog, be consistent. Stay the course. Publish content regularly and on schedule—this is a sure way to build steady traffic and increase your followers. Inconsistent or irregular marketing outreach will only lead to inconsistent and irregular returns. Building a name for yourself online takes time and patience. As you stick with your marketing campaign, you can expect to see positive results. Just be wary of any fire-breathing dragons that may pop up.
Though your marketing campaign may not be as epic as a trek across Middle Earth, you can gain some ground by applying these principles to your strategies. Soon enough you may reap the rewards of a king’s treasure in increased traffic, improved SERP rankings, and a better online reputation.
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