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Google Yo’ Bad Self – The Importance of Online Branding in Comic Book Marketing
The Internet search engine, Google, is now one of the most powerful tools to use for marketing, sales, PR, research and just about everything else you can think of. I’m going to say with extreme confidence that if you can work Google to your advantage, you have the potential to reach more people than a prime time television commercial.
Heck, Google has become so ingrained into our existence that the search engine’s funky name has even been accepted into our language as a verb. That’s right, friends, Google is now a verb in the dictionary.
Google is the main way almost everyone on the planet will use to get information. And it should be the tool business use to check on their own status and branding. What comes up when someone “Googles You” is how the world at large will perceive you.
I know, whenever I get a new client or even meet a new person, the very first thing I do is pop their name in to Google to see what I find. Whatever shows on those first two pages of search engine results is going to color my opinion on the person, brand, product or company. This is going to be true for 99% of your potential customers. What they see on Google is going to be the baseline of their opinion on you.
In addition to branding, Google is also going to be the first place those potential customers go to find information on product they want to buy. If a customer is looking to purchase something (or even just looking for more information on an interest of theirs), having your website, or websites you control, show up in the first two pages of Google results is going to give you a shot at converting that sale.
In other words, a customer can’t buy your comic book if he can’t find it. This is especially true for licensed comic book publishers (although, I’ve already talked about that in my “The Failure of Licensed Publishers” article, so I won’t waste our space here).
My question for you is: have you done a Google search for your product, company, name or service? If so, what comes up?
More than likely, Googling yourself is going to give you one of a few different results (or, more accurately, a few instances of each):
1. Your website and all the information you really want people to see about yourself.
2. Someone with a similar product/service/name horning in on your sales!
3. Information you’d rather people not know or see about yourself — “hater” websites, bad reviews and so on.
4. Completely unrelated sites, which just happen to have the same keywords or names as you.
Obviously, everyone wants to make sure they rank #1 in Google in order to get the first chance at traffic. And, to be honest, that’s not a bad plan. However, what you’re forgetting, is that people will continue to look down the page of search results, even if exactly what they are looking for is right there at the top.
Read the rest in my new book, “Comic Book Marketing 101,” now available as an eBook for only $4.99!
Topics include:
- Doing marketing analysis and research to maximize your comic’s potential for success
- Developing a marketing plan
- How to do a proper Product Launch
- Hands-On case studies using the work of publishers IDW Publishing, Boom Studios and Moonstone Books! Learn from their mistakes!
- And more!
For the Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Book-Marketing-101-ebook/dp/B005PPPRIU/
In multiple formats: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91945
-Mat Nastos, Super Genius
http://www.MatNastos.net
About Mat Nastos
TV, Film, comic book, fantasy & steampunk writer/director, known best for bad horror movies about giant scorpions, killer pigs & dinosaurs in the sewers. You can find his work on Smashwords or at his Amazon Author Page.
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November 18th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Mat,
we invested recently in the comic publishing business. africa enjoys comics but we have not grown a sustainable comic business culture; spanning print and cartoon/game production. is it possible to consult and work with you towards developing our brand?
best regards.
April 20th, 2012 at 7:08 am
Thanks for the note. Feel free to send me an email – you can find my contact information in the right sidebar. Take care and good luck with your project!
April 20th, 2012 at 7:17 am