It’s no secret that Haley Marketing is filled with Harry Potter fans (although surprisingly few of us made the midnight premier – guess we are getting older).
Anyway, as much as I am a fan of the story, I’m equally a fan of the J.K. Rowling marketing magic. In fact, here’s an article I wrote a few years ago that was published in Staffing Success about Harry Potter and the Secret of Marketing Staffing (just a quick warning, the article links to an old secret identity picture of me that is no longer on our website, sorry).
One marketing lesson I left out of the article was the adage to keep doing the things that keep working. It sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to over the years who want to update their corporate identity or redo their sales collateral simply because “we’ve had it a long time.” That’s not a reason to change. If something is working you stick with it. When it stops working–or no longer accurately represents your firm, then you make a change.
And for reference, I just read the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows generated $331 million in revenue opening weekend, and it is expected to generate at least $900 million in worldwide sales. That brings the Potter series to a staggering $7.5 billion in ticket sales, and that doesn’t include the books, merchandise or the theme park in Florida!
Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling stopped after one book?
