Yesterday I had quite the nerdgasm.<\/p>\n
A real doozie.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
And what tingled<\/em> my spider sense?<\/p>\n The famous Marvel and DC Comics’ “rivalry.”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n What did they do differently?<\/p>\n Why did fans FLOCK to Marvel like that? <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And you know what happened?<\/p>\n The DC guys tried “swiping” all these techniques and tactics.<\/p>\n Did it work?<\/p>\n Apparently not.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n The gold was in the intangible<\/em> stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n The stuff you didn’t “see” in the comics.<\/p>\n Like how they created a sense of community for their readers, fleshed out their characters and structured their reader-publisher relationship.<\/p>\n To this day, Marvel STILL wipes the floor with DC.<\/p>\n And guess what?<\/p>\n The same<\/em> thing happens online today.<\/p>\n 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<\/em> that build businesses and long term customers.<\/p>\n Like, for example positioning.<\/p>\n Telling the truth (the #1 sales”technique” you can use).<\/p>\n Respecting marketplace skepticism.<\/p>\n Relentless follow-up. <\/p>\n Rock solid customer service.<\/p>\n And all that other “un-sexy” stuff. <\/p>\n Bottom line?<\/p>\n Marvel figured this principles vs tactics thing out DECADES ago, and today, they’re a multi-billion dollar operation.<\/p>\n And the competition?<\/p>\n Most are pouting<\/em> in Marvel’s giant shadow.<\/p>\n Ben Settle<\/p>\n P.S.<\/strong> 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:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n