Yesterday I had quite the nerdgasm.
A real doozie.
I was watching a documentary about comic book creator and legend Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Ironman and many other “household name” characters).
And what tingled my spider sense?
The famous Marvel and DC Comics’ “rivalry.”
You see, Marvel has (from what I can tell) always outsold DC Comics. And the DC guys were always trying to geek information from the Marvel people about their big “secret.”
What did they do differently?
Why did fans FLOCK to Marvel like that?
And so they would study Marvel and, for example, notice them using lots of dialogue on their covers. Splashing flashy colors throughout their books. Placing word balloons a certain way, and so on and so forth.
And you know what happened?
The DC guys tried “swiping” all these techniques and tactics.
Did it work?
Apparently not.
You see, the REAL reasons for Marvel’s success had little to do with their “tactics” — like how they used colors, word balloons and dialogue.
The gold was in the intangible stuff.
The stuff you didn’t “see” in the comics.
Like how they created a sense of community for their readers, fleshed out their characters and structured their reader-publisher relationship.
To this day, Marvel STILL wipes the floor with DC.
And guess what?
The same thing happens online today.
People get so caught up in the “tactical” stuff they see from goo-roos or whatever — like headline colors, sales letter formats, launch techniques, search engine “loopholes”, short term test results (that may or may not apply to anyone else), etc — they forget the 100% principle-based fundamentals that build businesses and long term customers.
Like, for example positioning.
Telling the truth (the #1 sales”technique” you can use).
Respecting marketplace skepticism.
Relentless follow-up.
Rock solid customer service.
And all that other “un-sexy” stuff.
Bottom line?
Marvel figured this principles vs tactics thing out DECADES ago, and today, they’re a multi-billion dollar operation.
And the competition?
Most are pouting in Marvel’s giant shadow.
Ben Settle
P.S. For dozens of principle-based sales and marketing secrets that build businesses (and not just one time sales), find a phone booth, put on your cape & tights, and fly on over to:
