7 Marketing Lessons from Star Trek
Celebrating the recent Star Trek movie, we’re sharing marketing wisdom from around the universe. Find out how to apply the wisdom of Starfleet to your business and marketing efforts.
An Outdated Website is the New Red Shirt
Many times, you can tell at a glance which crew members will survive the surface trip, and who will be cannon fodder for the aliens/monsters/space beams/earthquakes. Likewise, your customers make assumptions based on how your website looks. Make sure you’re sending the right message. Boredom can sink your marketing efforts faster than a proton torpedo.
Avoid Assimilation
Unless you’re marketing to the hive-mind, avoid conformity. That last thing you want is to look like every other business online. Just as Spock’s human/Vulcan ancestry gave him unique advantages, so the strength of your business stems from your uniqueness.
Reinforce your distinct advantages on every page of your website, in every email newsletter, every ad, and every print piece you send out.
Embrace the Power of Diversity
Klingon, Human, Vulcan, android; they all work together in Starfleet. Likewise, all your marketing efforts need to support each other across various mediums. By striving for diversity in your marketing mediums, and maintaining a cohesive message, you can achieve a greater return, and strengthen your position in the market.
Analyze Before You Beam Down
Before the surface party ever sets foot in the transporter room, the captain always scans the planet for life signs, planetary conditions, and potential dangers. This analysis is a crucial step for any successful marketing endeavor as well.
Before you jump into any new marketing or advertising arena, make sure conditions are favorable, and prepare your campaign accordingly.
Keep an Eye on Those Engines
Without Scotty, the Enterprise would never make it out of space dock. With a crack engineer watching over the ship, the captain always had a status report at his fingertips, and expert help when things went south.
With online marketing campaigns, you can view detailed information on your website traffic, PPC advertising clicks, and email marketing. Your marketing team can see strengths and weaknesses, and find ways to improve.
Androids Are Your Friends
“Computer, calculate the loss of productivity due to inefficient software. Cross reference cost of lost time.” Rapid advances in technology have resulted in powerful software platforms for sales, accounting, inventory management, customer relations, and beyond.
Not everyone needs e-commerce solutions or custom software. But if repetitive tasks and outdated software are eating away your profits, automated alternatives can improve your bottom line. (Emotion chip is optional.)
Don’t Be Afraid to Push the Boundaries.
“Things are only impossible until they are not,” said Jean-Luc Picard. The science of marketing online is new, and yet old as the cosmos itself. New pathways are being forged. We are all exploring the new frontier.
Things are changing so fast, none of us can afford to sit still. We must continue to seek out new tactics and new ways to reach our target markets.
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