Three Ways To Put The Dearly Departed
To Work In Your Business
For Fun And Profit …
In this issue:
- Why deceased heroes make great business partners …
- The resurrection of a niche market patron saint …
- A tasteful example of shameless brand equity theft …
- And much more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
Dead people can make great business partners.
Just the other day, I was browsing through the magazine rack at Chapters (the Canadian version of Barnes & Noble) when I came across a magazine devoted almost entirely to the late Albert Einstein. It seems 53 long years after Einstein’s death … people are still fascinated by the man.
In fact, there are people who just can’t get enough of him, collecting Einstein magnets, posters, spoons, books, CDs, finger puppets, dolls, watches, ties, t-shirts, you name it. For the second year running, Forbes has ranked Einstein as fifth on the list of top earning dead celebrities, with $18,000,000 in Einstein merchandise sold.
Other dead tycoons include Elvis ($49 million), John Lennon ($44 million), Charles M. Schulz, creator of Charlie Brown ($35 million), George Harrison ($22 million), and the list goes on.
Of course if you or I were to try to “partner” with any of these cultural icons by creating merchandise or advertising using their names or likenesses we’d get our fingers slapped. Make anything Einstein, for example — be it product, product name, or advertisement — and prepare to deal with an onslaught of legal wrangling from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a company called Corbis, owned by none other than Bill Gates.
Thankfully though, the same sort of “rabid fan base” for dead dudes and dudettes that exists in the macrocosm of mainstream markets also exists in the microcosm of tiny niches and sub-cultures in which most of us make our livings. The only difference being, the right to use the names and likenesses, and even intellectual property of many of these dearly departed niche celebrities is fair game.
Case in point: When a friend of mine, marketing genius Tim Paulson, wanted to penetrate the chiropractic market — selling his business coaching services to chiropractors — he was a complete unknown. He wasn’t even a chiropractor. However, by reincarnating himself as one, he was able to quickly build a very nice following in that market.
The story is highly instructive for anyone looking to build brand awareness for the purpose of penetrating a new market.
The Resurrection Of A
Niche Market Patron Saint …
Chiropractic was “founded” by Daniel David Palmer in 1895, but it was his son B.J. Palmer who almost single handedly established it as an accepted and widely adopted treatment.
B.J. was for all intents and purposes a promoter, as much as he was a chiropractor. And his relentless marketing of the science of chiropractic through the written word, and on radio, and television was largely responsible for the success of the chiropractic movement, despite vigorous opposition from the mainstream medical community.
All chiropractors know the story of B.J. Palmer and revere him, in much the same way physicists revere Einstein, songwriters revere Lennon, and cartoonists Charles M. Schulz. And Palmer’s substantial brand equity within the niche was there for the taking, like so many other niche cult heroes.
Tim Paulson discovered there is a “Chiropractic Archives” in Davenport, Iowa, where a lot of the early marketing materials that built and developed chiropractic as a profession are stored. He went to Davenport, studied B.J. Palmer’s marketing, and made hundreds of copies of the ads and circulars that had done such a great job of establishing chiropractic as an accepted treatment. Paulson broke the code to chiropractic marketing success. And then you know what he did?
He anointed himself the “The BJ Palmer of the 21st Century” and started plastering industry trade journals with his story. He didn’t need to be a chiropractor. He just needed a GREAT STORY that linked him to what he was providing … marketing for chiropractors. That gave him all the credibility he needed.
“Partnering” with the patron saint of chiropractic gave Paulson instant notoriety among the chiropractic community. Some chiropractors appreciated his audacity, some didn’t. Either way they were drawn to his message like moths to a flame on a dark night.
Result? Paulson quickly built a substantial following within the chiropractic industry, and generates substantial revenues from this niche. All without spending a dime in royalties for using the Palmer name.
Sometimes The Longer
They’re Dead The Better …
There’s a copywriter here in Canada by the name of Dan Lok who has “partnered” with a 2,500 year dead Chinese military strategist by the name of Sun Tzu. Who the heck is Sun Tzu? And why would a Canuck copywriter attempt to hijack his mojo?
Well, it turns out Sun Tzu is the posthumous author of a book called, The Art Of War.
And The Art Of War is the most widely read business book in the world… recognized as the oldest military treatise in existence.
World leaders, military strategists and business executives all over the world have studied books that are derivative of the ancient Chinese text. And of course that text is copyright free.
Anybody is welcome to take its wisdom and adapt it in any way they choose. And in the process, assume instant credibility with the hundreds of thousands of Sun Tzu fanatics all over the world.
This is very smart marketing, don’t you agree?
For one, it is a short-cut to content. Instead of coming up with a book from scratch, Lok has a ready-made, proven structure on which to hang his marketing teachings. Sun Tzu’s ancient text talks of Laying Plans prior to entering battle. Lok talks about the 5 big things you must know to run your next campaign and making numbers work for you in planning.
Second, the story of Sun Tzu, and the concepts ascribed to him, have proven traction in the marketplace. They have been applied metaphorically with great success to modern warfare … business management … negotiation tactics … diplomacy … politics … and more. And with each application, new zealots are born. Why not marketing?
And third, by hitching his wagon to a highly revered icon with an already established cult following, Lok garners instant attention, credibility, and penetration in markets that would otherwise all but ignore him.
All of this royalty free!
Yet Another Tasteful Example Of
Shameless Brand Equity Theft …
My first foray into the info-marketing business involved a similar kind of benign brand equity theft. I called it Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century, and it was basically this:
A collection of 13 of Robert Collier’s most successful direct mail letters, notated by me, and with additional text showing how I was using Collier’s psychological persuasion principles to increase sales online.
At the time I was nothing but a legend in my own mind. If I had released an information product about online marketing, it would have been very difficult and expensive to create market awareness.
But by borrowing Robert Collier’s brand equity and claiming it for myself, I was able to quickly launch an information marketing business.
All of the online marketing gurus were already selling their followers on the idea that online marketing is just offline direct response marketing and “salesmanship in print.” I didn’t have to sell the concept. I simply added my own unique spin to the momentum that already existed.
Newbies who saw my promotions perceived my e-book as an unusually captivating expression of what they were already being told elsewhere. So they bought it. More advanced marketers bought it, too — even the gurus themselves — because I was validating their views.
And the e-book really is good. You won’t find a deeper analysis of Collier’s work anywhere … or as detailed a set of instructions for applying his proven wisdom in the online marketing world.
Until next time, Good Selling!
Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant and direct response copywriter based in Toronto, Canada and publisher of the world famous copywriting anthology, Masters of Copywriting, featuring the selling wisdom of 44 of the “Top Money” marketing minds of all time, including Clayton Makepeace, Dan Kennedy, Joe Sugarman, John Carlton, Joe Vitale, Michel Fortin, Richard Armstrong and dozens more! For a FREE excerpt visit http://www.SellingtoHumanNature.com
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Comment by lawton chiles — February 27, 2008 @ 10:13 am
Great article on looking in new places for un-tapped wealth. . Is that Collier book in the public domain?
Comment by Jeffrey Fine — February 27, 2008 @ 10:27 am
I really enjoyed your article. It is thought provoking. I am working with a new author. Naturally getting someone famous to sing her praises, would be a greater benefit than ordinary testimonials. Deceased famous people is definitly something I will take a look at. I agree with you that even in our technological age. Selling to human nature doesn’t change all that much.
Comment by Winnie — February 27, 2008 @ 11:02 am
The link Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these. is broken. Do you have resources that relate to this?