Marketing lessons from Marvel and DC
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 8:32 am
Over the past decade, comic books have gone from a niche market to a global phenomenon. Two companies have been the main players in driving this popularity: Marvel and DC, and they certainly have plenty of marketing lessons to share with us.
These industry giants have used numerous content marketing techniques to push comics, and the culture surrounding them, forward. Let’s take a look at how they’ve accomplished this feat, and how your company can learn from it.
Marketing lessons for creating great universes
marketing lessons dcLet’s start with comics. Both Marvel and DC have been publishing comics since the 1930s. In that time, they’ve spawned several iterations of their most popular characters, launched countless large-scale events, and collected numerous books.
So how have they managed to keep readers interested for so many years? It's simple, by telling great stories.
People love stories, we tell them to entertain, engage and build relationships.
What DC and Marvel have done is build these stories over a long period of time - most comic albania phone number stories are character driven. Readers fall in love with them as they watch them grow, develop and overcome their obstacles. And while sometimes stories are adapted or new versions emerge, writers are generally able to build on any changes and successfully incorporate this into the character's story.
Marketing lessons from Marvel and DC on content
It's not about writing for the sake of writing; the content of our story must involve the reader and hook them from the beginning.
Structure your content to keep the reader wanting more. For example, create a content series or invite the reader to leave comments or interact with your content.
The best types of content offer new information or help solve a problem. If you understand the need for the content, you can use that need to influence both the title and the copy.
Marvel and DC Marketing
I invite you to read: The value of well-written content in Digital Marketing .
Attract talents
To quote Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and with great content comes great talent.
The comic book giants were able to attract some of the most skilled artists and writers in the industry. The names of Jeph Loeb, Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns are well-known in comics, and each of them has had a hand in shaping the characters we know and love today.
Some of these people have even gone on to play a larger role in the companies, becoming Producers, Editors and Department Heads.
Tips for attracting great talent
Don't be afraid to reach out and build relationships with influencers and big names in your industry. You may be able to mutually offer new information and opportunities to them.
You can leverage the knowledge and skills of other professionals in the form of interviews, guest posts, and collaborative spaces for your website or blog.
This in turn is a great way to attract and market to new audiences, who may not have previously had the opportunity to see your work.
Key events and dates
Spiderman marketing lessons
Sometimes even a great story can lose its level of interest, so how do you renew these stories and get people excited again? Large-scale events, that's the solution.
Recent examples include premieres, conventions and events that take months to plan and execute properly, as with all comics they are built step by step and promoted alongside the stories.
Tips to apply to your content marketing campaign
Your content should be planned. Consider creating one or two large-scale pieces of content each month, and then use the time in between to promote and push that work to the right audience.
Use an editorial calendar to carefully plan what types of content you will produce, when you will write and publish it, and who your target audience will be.
Consider repurposing the data and information from these pieces and creating more digestible types of content that can be delivered to all types of audiences.
These industry giants have used numerous content marketing techniques to push comics, and the culture surrounding them, forward. Let’s take a look at how they’ve accomplished this feat, and how your company can learn from it.
Marketing lessons for creating great universes
marketing lessons dcLet’s start with comics. Both Marvel and DC have been publishing comics since the 1930s. In that time, they’ve spawned several iterations of their most popular characters, launched countless large-scale events, and collected numerous books.
So how have they managed to keep readers interested for so many years? It's simple, by telling great stories.
People love stories, we tell them to entertain, engage and build relationships.
What DC and Marvel have done is build these stories over a long period of time - most comic albania phone number stories are character driven. Readers fall in love with them as they watch them grow, develop and overcome their obstacles. And while sometimes stories are adapted or new versions emerge, writers are generally able to build on any changes and successfully incorporate this into the character's story.
Marketing lessons from Marvel and DC on content
It's not about writing for the sake of writing; the content of our story must involve the reader and hook them from the beginning.
Structure your content to keep the reader wanting more. For example, create a content series or invite the reader to leave comments or interact with your content.
The best types of content offer new information or help solve a problem. If you understand the need for the content, you can use that need to influence both the title and the copy.
Marvel and DC Marketing
I invite you to read: The value of well-written content in Digital Marketing .
Attract talents
To quote Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and with great content comes great talent.
The comic book giants were able to attract some of the most skilled artists and writers in the industry. The names of Jeph Loeb, Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns are well-known in comics, and each of them has had a hand in shaping the characters we know and love today.
Some of these people have even gone on to play a larger role in the companies, becoming Producers, Editors and Department Heads.
Tips for attracting great talent
Don't be afraid to reach out and build relationships with influencers and big names in your industry. You may be able to mutually offer new information and opportunities to them.
You can leverage the knowledge and skills of other professionals in the form of interviews, guest posts, and collaborative spaces for your website or blog.
This in turn is a great way to attract and market to new audiences, who may not have previously had the opportunity to see your work.
Key events and dates
Spiderman marketing lessons
Sometimes even a great story can lose its level of interest, so how do you renew these stories and get people excited again? Large-scale events, that's the solution.
Recent examples include premieres, conventions and events that take months to plan and execute properly, as with all comics they are built step by step and promoted alongside the stories.
Tips to apply to your content marketing campaign
Your content should be planned. Consider creating one or two large-scale pieces of content each month, and then use the time in between to promote and push that work to the right audience.
Use an editorial calendar to carefully plan what types of content you will produce, when you will write and publish it, and who your target audience will be.
Consider repurposing the data and information from these pieces and creating more digestible types of content that can be delivered to all types of audiences.