I recently went to an AMA lunch and listened to Bryan Brandenburg speak about marketing. Bryan started Salt Lake Comic Con less than 2 years ago and it is already the 4th largest comic convention in the country (#1 per capita), with the most recent convention drawing 130,000 attendees. To date, they have brought in a total of over 8 million in revenue. Bryan attributes his success to following the Steve Jobs model of “creating insanely good products that market themselves.” Of course, after you’ve created a great product, you still need to let people know about it. Here are some of my takeaways regarding marketing tactics and strategies that worked for them:
- Use Social Media for Market Research – Bryan was able to look at attendance numbers for other comic conventions like the biggest one in San Diego, look at the regional social media following for comic related things (super heroes, sci-fi tv shows, etc) and compare it to the social media following in Utah for comic related topics. This allowed him to extrapolate a projection for attendance. Based on his research, he predicted attendance of 70K his first year and ended up with an actual attendance of 72K. Having an accurate prediction for this kind of thing is very helpful because it allows them to know how big of a space they need to reserve and to book the biggest drawing panelists they can within their budget.
- Give to Your Audience – Nobody wants to be friends with someone who only shows up when they need something. Engage with your audience. In the social media world, this can mean providing interesting content. It’s also important to be giving. Salt Lake Comic Con gives away thousands of tickets through contests and promotions. They also give away tickets in private when they hear of individuals in need who would like to attend but aren’t able to otherwise. They believe that sending out good karma helps their brand. They try to not be a company to their customers, but rather a friend.
- Consider Brand Extensions – Knowing that they can only do their standard convention once a year, they created another complimentary event billed as “Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience” which incorporates broader pop culture elements in “the worlds of sports, music, and live entertainment” with the comic con environment. This extension of their event has equaled the success of their main events and has allowed them to grow their influence.
- Become an Authority – Be knowledgeable about the things that matter to your audience. Even better, get endorsements from follower’s role models (borrowing authority). In the case of Salt Lake Comic Con, they received an endorsement from Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman, X-Men and many other notable comics), which went far in establishing their legitimacy with their audience and in their industry.
- Carve a Niche for Yourself – Use scarcity to your advantage. Don’t try to create the best solution, create the only solution. If your event or product is truly “one-of-a-kind,” then you can greatly reduce (or even eliminate) your competition. Deliver so well on your solution that you sell out.
Update: Due to a lawsuit with San Diego Comic Con, they’ve now rebranded as FanX.