We all know that Star Wars is full of life lessons. After all, it’s pop culture’s ultimate morality play, with clear-cut instructions for deciding right and wrong, as well as ultra-cool examples of all those roads not taken and detours missed.
Unfortunately, many of us are so caught up in cheering for the good guys that we miss the extremely valuable life lessons that Darth Vader and his ilk can teach us.
Lord Vader was no slouch when it came to self-promotion. How else do you think he rose to the top of his nefarious profession? During his early years as a fledgling Sith lord, there’s no doubt that Vader’s email marketing skills must have been prodigious.
In fact, if you take an even closer look at Star Wars, you can pick up a number of subliminal hints that can help you with your own email marketing strategies. Consider these strategies used by the Great Helmeted One himself.
Reach Out to the Multitudes, but Target Your Audience
Darth Vader wasn’t merely satisfied with running a kingdom or two; galactic domination was his goal, and in business, it should be yours too. Lord Vader’s mistake was that, instead of utilizing the talents of his minions, he only wanted to crush them all under the heel of his black durasteel combat boots.
You can avoid the same mistake by targeting your email audience. Use social networking sites to learn about their preferences and cater to these with your email marketing campaign. Speaking of social networking….
Engage Your Audience
Throughout the Star Wars saga, Darth Vader didn’t merely bark orders; he also engaged in challenging dialogues with enemies such as Luke and Obi Wan-Kenobi, provoking them by knowing just which buttons to push to get the optimum reaction. In the same way, you’ll want to engage your email prospects by appealing to their interests, then creating stimulating conversations with them.
One way to do this is to post contests, surveys or question-and-answer sessions, either on your website or via your Facebook and Twitter pages. You’ll not only find out about your target audience, but you’ll also get lots of new email addresses for your mailing list.
Believe in Your Product
When Darth Vader tells Imperial Officer Motti, “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” he’s giving utterance to his life’s credo: believe in yourself — and in your message. When you show others that you believe in your product, they’ll get the message right away, without you having to resort to a Darth Vader death grip.
Create Pithy Content, and Keep it Simple
When Darth Vader pronounced those memorable words, “I am your father,” he made cinematic history with one simple sentence. Vader is a man of few words, but those words are always compelling.
By being direct and getting to the heart of the matter without a lot of fluff, you can produce email content that’s actually being read, not deleted.
Technology is Your Friend
Lord Vader and his minions used only the newest state-of-the-art technologies, all of which were encapsulated in the Death Star. Except for extenuating circumstances, propelled by the power of the Force, the Death Star would have been a splendid high-tech center of galactic operations for the Empire.
In much the same way, you can embrace technology by using analytics to measure your return on investment (ROI) as well as your response activity in your email marketing campaign.
Use Tracking Tools to Measure Performance
Darth Vader implemented a tracking device on the Millennium Falcon so that he and his minions could follow the ship to Yavin IV, the hidden base of the rebels. If it wasn’t for the power of the Force (more about that later), the scheme might have worked.
By following Vader’s strategy and implementing tracking tools in your email marketing, you can uncover valuable demographics, such as where your target prospects live and what types of products they like and buy. Likewise, you can also use tracking tools to find out whether or not your emails have been opened, and which links have been clicked and followed.
Dodge Spam Filters
Darth Vader destroyed Alderaan because it was a nuisance to the Empire. In much the same way, spam filters are a nuisance to email marketing; but the good news is there are ways to handle those pesky email rebels.
By using a dedicated IP address, as well as email service providers that are specially designed for marketing purposes, you can dodge spam filters as adroitly as Darth Vader sidesteps those light-saber swipes in his final battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Test Your Emails
Darth Vader was a strong believer in testing your methods to make sure they’re going to succeed when it really counts. For example, he wanted to hold Luke in a state of suspended animation, so he tested the process on Hans Solo first by having him frozen in carbonite. Likewise, he did a test-run on the Death Star’s capabilities by completely taking out Alderaan.
In much the same way, you can test different variables in your email marketing to see how well they’re working. For example, try experimenting with distinct designs and fonts, as well as various types of topics in the subject line. By measuring the effectiveness of these variables, you’ll be able to come up with the right voice and graphics for your campaign.
Create a Call to Action that Resonates
When Darth Vader carried out a command, he meant business. Try ending your emails with a powerful call to action that’s just as compelling as one of Vader’s commands — without utilizing that nasty death grip, which would certainly send the wrong message.
Have a Sense of Humor
When Darth Vader says “Apology accepted” after choking Captain Needa to death, it’s proof that the old steel-shod rascal does indulge in the odd grisly whimsicality here and there. While there probably won’t be a “Darth Vader Joke Book” on the market anytime soon, you can still take a cue from the Great Helmeted One and infuse your emails with a touch of humor. Look at it this way: the funnier the email, the more chances it will be read instead of deleted.
Ask for Feedback
This is the one thing that Darth Vader never learned to do, and it led to the downfall of the Empire. If they’d only distributed a few customer comment cards in the Mos Eisley Cantina, the Empire might have finally gotten the message that the Emperor wasn’t too popular.
By asking for feedback in your emails, you’re opening the door for response and communication from potential customers. Plus, feedback is a great way to find out how to reach your audience in a more meaningful way.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Force — Your Audience
Throughout the Star Wars saga, Darth Vader’s biggest mistake is that he continually underestimated the light side of the Force, as well as the powers of its practitioners. Remember the Ewoks? It’s safe to say that when Lord Vader was strategizing his final assault against the rebellion, he never envisioned his troops being overrun and outsmarted by a bunch of fluffy, high-IQ teddy bears picnicking in a redwood forest.
Even if a segment of your audience seems unresponsive to your email campaign, don’t give up on them. They may just be waiting for the right moment to spring into action. Instead, use creative ways to engage them, such as dialogues and contests.
Use an Email Management System
Where would Darth Vader be without his storm troopers? More than anything else, Vader believed in bringing out the troops whenever it was necessary — and having a strong support system to cover his back. Vader’s onboarding skills must have been exemplary, or how else could he have put together such a forceful management team?
No matter how extensive your email marketing campaign, you’ll benefit from an email management system offering management tools such as list building, graphic designing and auto-delivery.
A professional system can also help you create dynamic content rich with links that can be tracked so you can measure your effectiveness. Darth Vader also believed in delegating whenever it was feasible, and an email management system can take some of the grub work off your hands so that you have more time to concentrate on your product or service.
Darth Vader was a superb strategist, which is the key quality of a good marketer. By utilizing these same strategies — albeit in a positive, nonviolent way — you can parlay Darth Vader’s own methods into a successful email marketing campaign that will stand head and shoulders (even without the cape and helmet) above the crowd.