Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are businesses that fall in the middle ground between small offices and large companies. Top Tips SMEs Can Learn From the Barbie Movie Market.
Using a range of marketing strategies, the Barbie movie managed to create a ‘moment’ that everyone wanted to be part of. This is something that SMEs should aim to do when creating their own campaigns. Top Tips SMEs Can Learn From the Barbie Movie Market.
1. Keep it real
When it comes to marketing, SMEs don’t have the luxury of pouring unlimited resources into campaigns that will go viral. That’s why they need to prioritize teasing out content and tapping into their community to drive organic engagement and awareness.
The Barbie movie team understood this, and it worked. It kept the plot under wraps and generated excitement and intrigue, ensuring that audiences would come back for more.
In turn, it pushed brand identity and nostalgia-marketing, while using social media to generate a buzz. It’s a model that SMEs can replicate – whether it’s releasing a new product or engaging their community to grow their reach and customer base. Then, when the time comes, they can leverage merchandising to create upsell opportunities. This will ensure that customers stick with their business and help it grow in the long run.
2. Engage with your audience
As a business, it’s important to engage with your audience. This includes being humorous and sharing behind the scenes photos of your team. SMEs can also do this by posting value-add posts. This could include sharing user generated content with happy shoutouts or case studies on how your products have helped others.
One of the things that the Barbie movie marketing team did well was making the build-up just as much an event as the launch.
The movie also leveraged nostalgia-marketing, a strategy that SMEs can also use. By tapping into your audience’s core values and memories, you can capture their attention and keep them engaged.
3. Make it interactive
Businesses can take note of the Barbie movie’s successful marketing campaign and create their own buzz in the lead-up to a new product launch. This allows customers to become invested in a brand’s future and makes it more exciting when the release does finally arrive.
The movie has also partnered with influential figures who embody the values of inclusion and diversity.
This has resonated with viewers who want to see themselves represented in film, even if they are not the main character. This is a trend that SMEs can emulate by providing exclusive content and products for loyalists of their brands.
4. Create an event
When behind-the-scenes photos of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling wearing technicolour lycra rollerblading on Venice Beach hit the internet, it didn’t just generate excitement about the movie, it created a whole event around the launch. It also kept audiences engaged with constant social media updates and trending hashtags in the build-up to the film’s release.
Plan and build a schedule of the day’s activities to ensure everything runs smoothly. Also, assign responsibilities to team members so that everyone feels involved and valued.
Try collaborating with other local businesses or brands that share similar interests to yours. This can help you lower costs and create useful business contacts for the future. Also, it’s a great way to draw a customer-friendly crowd to your event.
5. Don’t be afraid to fail
Rival studio executives say Warners and Mattel have created a marketing campaign for the ages with Barbie, a movie that appears on course to be very profitable.
The marketing team kept the plot a secret to build suspense, and they’ve triggered an abundance of emotion — wonder, curiosity, excitement — with a mix of social media campaigns, product tie-ins and meme-worthy experiences like the Barbie Dream House in Malibu (bookable through Airbnb) and the Barbie Cruise Experience.
Big brands rushed to partner on products and services with the Barbie movie, including custom pink Crocs, striped dog bandanas and a Prada Barbie clothing line. But even small businesses have taken advantage of the movie’s popularity, hoping to ride the wave of Barbie mania needs read more hear.
