Corporate PR and marketing can learn much from promotion of the latest Star Wars film. Advance promotion through effective PR and content marketing accounted for much of the Disney production’s success. In fact, Star Wars: The Force Awakens shows the force of PR and content marketing.
Disney’s enormous size gives it an advantage other brands lack. Most people may not realize that Disney owns a multitude of television and radio networks, including ABC and part of ESPN, writes content marketing expert Scott Aughtmon for Marketing Insider Group. Disney used them to good effect. It premiered a Star Wars trailer during ESPN’s Monday night football. Other Disney media properties repeatedly mentioned the film leading up to its opening date. Still, marketers at all types and sizes of organizations can learn from the success of the Star Wars PR and content marketing strategies, experts agree.
PR and marketing veterans point to the lessons the film provides.
Engage with Storytelling. A good story that contains appealing characters, emotion and danger attracts and engages larger audiences. Develop PR and content marketing strategies that work well within the context of an engaging story with emotional appeal.
Employ different types of content. Most marketers focus on text and images. Disney also marketed the movie through audio, video games and apps. For instance, Disney released an Infinity playset the day it released the movie. Although it’s admittedly easier for Disney to create PR promotions and content marketing pieces based on the film’s existing video and audio assets, marketers can follow Disney’s example and reach new audiences by testing new forms of content instead of sticking the standard blogs and social media posts.
Work with partners. While most content marketers concentrate on their owned media, they can greatly expand their reach through partnerships. In one example, Disney’s collaboration with Google engages fans in a virtual reality app. As Disney’s blog explains, it “encourages Star Wars fans to choose the dark side or the light to customize their Google experience.”
Recycle content. The latest Star Wars edition is remarkably similar to the original movie. Both feature a protagonist on a desert planet, an important message stored in a droid, bad guys who seek that message, masked antagonists dressed in black, a planet-destroying weapon, and good guys who seek to destroy that weapon. Fans love the movie despite the parallels. The lesson for content marketers: Audiences do not mind recycled content, as long as it’s entertaining and engaging.
Answer questions. Disney answered many questions from fans about the movie and its characters in the weeks and month before its release. Other brands can also engage their audience by answering questions. Often that means creating how-to content that helps audience accomplish a task or reach better decisions, says Armando Roggio, contributing editor for Practical Ecommerce. “Even a post about a do-it-yourself project or how to pick out presents for your mother-in-law can engage and encourage the reader or viewer to go deeper and seek more information,” he says. A “look behind the curtain” captivates most audiences.
Keep it simple. The Force Awakens has a simplistic plot of good guys versus bad guys. That shows that the best content provides simple, relevant ideas and that consumers are more likely to support brands they can easily understand. If your company restores hardwood floors, don’t explain the detailed, scientific process for renovating floors, writes Fiona Merullo for Media Shower. Instead, try explaining the thrill of having new floors or describing what furniture goes well with hardwood floors.
Remain consistent. Stars Wars movies maintain a consistent set of rules for technology, physics and history as well as aesthetics. Audiences easily distinguish Star Wars and Star Trek because of those differences. The best brands likewise consistently stand apart from competitors. Their logos and styles are consistent across different marketing channels.
Bottom Line: Star Wars provides many content marketing lessons. Although most brands lack Disney’s marketing power, they can still apply many of Disney’s content marketing strategies and techniques on a smaller scale. What other lessons can content marketers learn from Star Wars? Please comment below.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
I am an author, copywriter and content marketer. I have learned in my ten plus years of earning a living online that doing your homework on your audiences wants, needs, desires and dislikes is key to writing compelling content. My conversion/click through rates are a lot higher when I do this (like 20 to 30%). And building in instant gratification/satisfaction too.