How Marvel Comics used Sociological Marketing to rule the world

Let me tell you a story: Marvel Comics was originally owned by Martin Goodman in the mid 1900s, and Stan Lee was merely writing childish stories for his titles he was embarrassed of. (It is one reason he changed his last name to "Lee.") Martin was a pure Psychological Marketer — where his entire business plan was (1) see what genre of comicbooks (horror, romance, war, westerns, super heroes, etc) are selling based on sales figures and trends (2) flood the market with as many titles — no matter the quality of storytelling or art — as possible. And he admittedly became rich doing that. But, it wasn’t until Stan Lee was about to quit, and decided to tell the kind of stories he’d always wanted to write and that he thought the market would want based on 20 years of writing comics, and knowing the market that nobody had ever done before (so certainly not based on sales figures or trends or any metrics)… when Martin became truly wealthy. Because that’s when Stan wrote the Fantastic Four. And Spider-Man. And The X-Men. And the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange… and all the other characters/titles that are now making up a multi-billion dollar IP empire. At that point, Martin looked at the sales figures and the trends, and it became obvious Stan had created his own trend. A trend that, although Marvel is all but a joke of what it was with its sales due to activist writers & directors & producers (they admit they don’t even hire writers for the movies that know the comics — dumb) let it become what everyone else originally chased, and still chases today. Steve Jobs did something similar with Apple. In fact, he told a reporter he didn’t do any market research for the Apple 2, asking the reporter: “Did Bell do any market research when he created the telephone?” Same goes for Walt Disney (Disneyland was a total departure from the traveling carnival norm). William Randolph Hearst (he created the very concept of corporate synergy that can help make Sociological Marketing like I teach work much better, and nobody was doing that before him). And even Donald Trump - especially with how he ran a lot of his 2016 campaign. And the list goes on. A lot of Sociological Marketing, and not so much Psychological Marketing. If anything, the Psychological Marketing came after the Sociological (usually when the accountants, bean counters, bankers, pollsters, investors start exerting influence). So obviously, I ain’t saying the typical psychologically-driven business-growth model you see in all the direct response marketing books & courses doesn’t work. As I have been saying all week: It is a much safer way to go. But like I say in my elBenbo Press book (where I first talked about this Sociological vs Psychological approach), in my experience, that way of doing business is nowhere near as fun, satisfying, and potentially profitable as Sociological Marketing. But, I also admit this too: The Sociological Marketing approach I am talking about here, and have been talking about all week, and that the entire September Email Players issue is about is quite demanding & requires a lot of patience. And it is not at-all suited for someone who stubbornly ONLY clings to metrics, swipe files, checklists, coaching/hand-holding, the opinions of their Facebook friends or Twitter accounts they follow… or who requires a wink & a nod of validation from their favorite guru in order to make a business decision. If anything using this approach will probably get you laughed at or create a bunch of blank, confused faces if you try to explain it to Psychological Marketers. I have experienced this phenomenon a handful of times. And it’s one reason I am useless at masterminds. I’m rarely ever on the same “wavelength” as the room. I remember trying to explain this business approach to some colleagues at various masterminds or events, and they would either look at me like I was nuts or else snickered & snarked at it — even as they whined and complained about their own declining sales, response, opens, clicks, whatever it was. Thus, I don’t bother casting this particular pearl before swine anymore. However, since my Email Players of the Horde are not swine, and are presumably subscribed to hear about the “pearls” I am polishing & enjoying… I decided to teach it in the September issue, and in much more detail, and from many other angles, than I do even in my elBenbo Press book. Now let’s get down to the business. Tonight’s the deadline to subscribe in time for the September issue. When I send the list to the printer that’ll be it. So if you are interested in this, hurry on over to the link below. [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2023 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA