5 Things Small Business and Startup Marketers Can Learn From The Royal Wedding

I have to confess that I’m not someone who sits glued to the TV watching the royal wedding ceremony and proceedings. In reality, as a entrepreneur, advisor and peak performance coach, I am more fascinated by just how fascinated others are with everything royal, including the royal wedding. As I went into our kitchen today and saw several members of my family watching the ceremony, then I switched on the television in the other room and flipped through a ton of channels covering the same thing, I had to ask myself, what can be learned from this obsession with royalty and royal weddings. So, here are my thoughts.

First and foremost, when you would like to catch the attention of the media, make sure you are providing them with a topic/story that their viewership cares about. If you don’t, you will get zero coverage — NONE. If you do, the sky is the limit on the amount of free publicity you may be able to obtain for your startup or small business.

Second, remember that everyone has a dream, or many of them. And remember that for many, as is apparent based on the media bonanza on all things royal and in particular the royal wedding, people’s dream(s) often revolve around childhood fairy tales and a “real life prince and princess”. Hardly anything captivates the mind of many people more than stories of princes and princesses, particularly those with happy beginnings and presumably, happy endings.

Third, when you can come across opportunities to mix royalty and non-royalty in your story, by all means, do so. This captures the minds of massive amounts of people even more than just the basic royal wedding scenario. Rags (not really, in the case of this royal wedding) to riches stories are what much of the public yearns for. These stories give people hope and belief. Be sure to weave your own stories into your startup (or small business) marketing, as stories are how we communicate and learn best as human beings.

Fourth, in your marketing and public relations, be sure to tie in to major media stories “of the day,” just as I am doing with this post. It helps to keep your content current and it allows your audience to relate your material, whatever it may be, to something that they are currently fascinated by. It can also help from an SEO point of view, if done correctly and consistently over time, but that’s a much longer story for another day.

Finally, where possible, make your marketing more personal. Be willing to divulge a bit about yourself, so that your audience and prospective customers will see you as a person, and they will not see your small business or startup as just one of millions. Help your audience understand that you, like them, are just another “commoner” trying to create your very own rags to riches, little girl or boy grown up, meeting royalty and finding your place in your castle story.

The more you make the growth of your startup or existing small business feel like the wonder and fascination of the royal wedding and the “real live prince meets princess,” falls in love and lives happily ever after story, the more likely you are to capture the attention of the media and your target audience. The connection is not literal, of course, but remember, we live on analogies and metaphors and we make emotional decisions, and then justify them with logic. So even if yours is not a true royal wedding story, make it metaphorically so.

We look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Paul Morin
paul@companyfounder.com
www.companyfounder.com

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