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The Star Wars Franchise: a Triumph in Content Marketing
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DECEMBER 2017
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The holidays are almost upon us, but many people are hotly anticipating a different sort of celebration this year: the release of another installment in the Star Wars saga.
Star Wars is one of the most lucrative franchises in movie history, with merchandising accounting for an extraordinary amount of the profit. When the saga was initially created in 1970’s by George Lucas, he was able to predict just how successful the brand would become, and took a $350,000 pay cut from the profits of the first film. He played his cards right; in 2017 Lucas is worth well over $5 billion. How did this story become one of the most successful franchises in movie history? And more importantly…are there any secrets in content marketing that the rest of us might learn?
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Photograph via http://www.starwars.com/
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Using Star Wars for Content Creation in 2018
While Star Wars may take place in a galaxy far far away, there might just be some hidden lessons in the brand that you can apply to your own content marketing strategy. Could you imagine what your brand would look like if your content became as lucrative as Star Wars? It may be easier to do then you think.
Create Content with Emotion
One of the reasons that Star Wars continues to perform so well is that it has an indelible link to people’s emotions and nostalgia. Since the first Star Wars trilogy made its debut in the late 1970’s, many of the adults who are returning for the new movie are parents, bringing their children along to recreate the fond memories they had as children themselves. Not only are the parents likely to be sold on the new content by virtue of their nostalgia, they are also likely to make their kids lifelong fans by recommending the story to them. Talk about a content gift that keeps on giving.
Keep Marketing Secrets Under Wraps
The Star Wars franchise is famous for being…serious about keeping details of upcoming movies a secret in order to avoid spoilers or potential leaks. Anthony Daniels, the actor who plays C3-PO once revealed that even the scripts given to actors are written on a headache-inducing dark red paper, in order to avoid photocopies. While you don’t have to take things quite that far, keeping the mechanisms of your content creation quiet can often help your business. You don’t want competitors taking your ideas, and you also don’t want your audience to see behind the curtain. The key to having a smoothly running marketing machine is to make it appear as natural and well-maintained as a brand new Gauntlet Fighter pod.
Use Consistency
Every Star Wars fan will know that Jedi’s maintain order and harmony in the universe, and a good content creator should aim to do the same. The consistency in your message is important, especially when you maintain multiple platforms. Do your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages all carry out the same message? Do you write with the same ‘voice’ across all of your platforms? It’s important to have a coordinated message across the vast expanse of the Twitter galaxy.
However, keep in mind that you usually don’t want to write the exact same thing on every platform. One of the strengths of social media after all, is that similar message can be conveyed to many different audiences and demographics through different platforms. Think about how similar Star Wars’ Episode IV was to the newest The Force Awakens installment. Both movies had similar overarching plotlines, but they had different characters to appeal to a new generation, and used updated graphics and filming techniques when they were made available.
Keep Expanding the Universe
For people who may not be such a fan of the Star Wars universe, it may be a little aggravating to have relatives drag you out to see a new installment every few years. Star Wars has found another way of adding to the universe as well, by creating three stand-alone films, with Rogue One being the first one released. When planning out content marketing for 2018, think of how you can expand the universe. Do you have ‘spinoff’ material to supplement your main ideas? How about a projected ‘sequel’ to tease your readers?
Keep it Simple
Star Wars has been able to have a multi-generational appeal in part because the story is accessible to everyone, and very easy to understand. There are good guys and bad guys. The bad guys have helpfully color-coded evil lightsabers, just in case you somehow forget. Content creation should be the same. Keep your ideas simple, relatable, and easy to keep up with. Use strategies that are simple and easy to execute cleanly. In other words, you aren’t laying plans to destroy the Death Star people. Simple and effective content is the best way to have your audience process your message.
Do Or Do Not- There Is No Try
As any good Jedi knows (if they listened to Master Yoda, that is), there is no sense in ‘trying’. There is only ‘doing’, and content creation is no different. The best way to start improving or developing your platform is to simply start taking action. There are many ways you can become a master content creator in 2018, and Iris Content is here to help you out. With a team of content creators and marketing experts that can refine your messaging and SEO, you can rest easy knowing that there’s a whole team of seasoned professionals behind you, to teach you the ways of the force(ful marketing strategy). This holiday season, give a gift to yourself and start the New Year with an actionable way to drive traffic.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” custom_padding=”50px|||” padding_mobile=”on” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#7e8f7c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”off” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” custom_padding=”17px|||” padding_mobile=”on” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”2″ padding_mobile=”on” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on” custom_padding=”50px|||” custom_padding_tablet=”30px|||” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” custom_padding=”17px|||” padding_mobile=”on” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider color=”#cc4315″ show_divider=”on” divider_style=”groove” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Blog post main Section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” transparent_background=”off” background_color=”FDF3E7″ allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” padding_mobile=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off” make_equal=”off” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image src=”https://iriscontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/annie-smmmII.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” _builder_version=”3.0.74″ show_bottom_space=”on” /][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_team_member name=”Annie Ianko” position=”Chief Content Officer” background_layout=”light” facebook_url=”https://www.facebook.com/IrisWebContent/” twitter_url=”https://twitter.com/Iris_Content” border_style=”solid” custom_css_main_element=”box-shadow: 0 0 20px rgba(0,0,0,.1);||” _builder_version=”3.0.74″]
Annie has 20 years of experience as an editor and content creator and manager. With work in television and written media, she has dedicated her past 10 years to learning the ropes of online content creation, from writing to editing, from SEO to content management.
If you need a professional to handle all your content during the hectic festive season, Iris Content is launching a few holiday packages that you can take advantage of. Reach out to us and we will help your business shine this holiday season!
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