The iconic first race scene in the original film The Fast And The Furious features Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) driving side by side at breakneck speed until Toretto triggers his NOS at the last second and blows by Brian for the win.
As he’s beaming with pride for getting so close to a victory, the first thing Brian says to Toretto is, “I almost had you.”
Toretto quickly replies, “You almost had me? You never had me. You never had your car!”
And the crowd of spectators around them erupts with jeers and laughter.
Maybe you don’t see it now, but if you think your marketing is at the peak of its game, then you’re just like Brian.
You think you’ve got a firm grasp on your marketing, but in reality, you’ve never had any control over it.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Here are a two marketing tips you can learn from The Fast and The Furious franchise that will help you blow by your competitors with ease.
Don’t Oversell Your Marketing
A few racing scenes, a few epic looking fights, some humor, and a bit of sex appeal, all in a two-minute commercial.
That’s all the marketing team at Universal Pictures needs to make you go, “whoaaa!” and convince you to go see the new Furious 7 movie.
Imagine now, if they had released a 10-minute commercial that only had boring, but informative dialogue. There would be nothing to get excited about.
You’ve got a lot of information to share, and that means you’ve got a lot of content you want to show your customers. But when you’re trying to attract potential clients, it’s important to keep the information simple and easy to digest.
Include critical information like how you can help to alleviate a pain point, how your company stands out from your competitors, and the best way to reach you if they have any further questions.
Simpler is generally better.
Find A Good Formula, But Stay Innovative
In a few years, you’ll be watching a film called 10 Fast 10 Furious and wondering how you got suckered into watching the 10th installment of a film that seemed like it was supposed to taper off after the third one.
The reason you’re still watching is because the formula of the film works. You’re there to see familiar faces, heart-pumping scenes where the crew tries to hi-jack some mysterious cargo off of another 18-wheeler in daring fashion, and listen to all of the gloriously cheesy dialogue.
Once you’ve tried a few ways of marketing your content, it’s time to do some testing to find out what your clients like. This will help you compile the data you need to find YOUR formula.
Once you have a steady formula, however, your job has only begun.
The reason the Fast and The Furious franchise has continued to thrive against all expectations is because they know how to build off of their formula, and change things up when needed.
They add new and interesting characters, additional elements of romance or seduction, and they always seem to find a way to top all of the action of the previous film (when you saw a car drift for the first time, weren’t you like, “whaaaaatttt the?!!”).
The most recent installment, Furious 7, has revealed a scene where the crew skydives off a cargo plane in their individual cars, keeping you wondering how they’re ever going to land without breaking their cars/bodies into a million pieces.
The lesson here is to keep challenging yourself, keep innovating and keep your customers engaged with the new and vibrant content.
Sure, you’ll want to keep churning out massive amounts of “informative” content over and over again, and as quickly as possible, because it’s easy and “it works,” but the truth is, if you don’t take the time to make your content concise and compelling, while pushing the boundaries of innovation, you’re never going to have control of your marketing.
In fact, you never had control. You never had your car.
Interested in getting a much-needed marketing boost? Want more marketing tips?
Contact TRIdigital today for a free consultation and let’s work together to shift your marketing into high gear!
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