Got Black Friday

Digital Marketing for the Game of Thrones Characters

Yesterday HBO released the new poster for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones; needless to say everyone is pretty excited.

got season 6 april poster

Seeing as we have another four months before the hype takes over, most marketers are channeling their focus towards year end goals and planning initiatives for 2016, and not the oh-so-distracting Game of Thrones series.

But because we like to geek out a bit, and share our fandom with our clients and partners, using our new Advocate marketing platform, Influitive, we asked out users and employees which Game of Thrones character they are (thanks to this easy buzzfeed quiz) and what marketing slogan they would use to target their given character.

The results were pretty fun! here goes.

Tyrion Lannister

Targeting Tyrion means capturing his attention right away, and offering him something he sees value in. He’s a smart guy, but he has his weaknesses. If you want to sell something to Tyrion, you better make sure it “comes with books, booze and boobs!”

What can you learn from this? 

It’s not about the message but the offer itself. An intelligent audience can see through whatever salesy marketing message you create, but the more value you offer the more exciting your brand will be to potential clients.

Jon Snow

One of our sales reps came up with this pun-filled tagline for Jon Snow:

“Winter is coming, make sure you have your snow tires!”

What can you learn from this? 

It’s all about knowing your audience, listening to them, and personalizing the message. Not everyone’s last name can so conveniently be used in a marketing tagline, but Jon Snow is all about preparing for the dangers that come with winter, and if Snow lived in a modern Westeros, you better bet he’d have his snow tires on! Know your audience, understand their pains, and it will feel like you’re targeting them specifically (which means you’ll see better conversions).

Ned Stark

got black friday

Ned Stark is a wise man, but there are some things you just can’t prepare for. From the character who famously coined the phrase “brace yourselves, winter is coming” and inspired countless memes, his slogan, like the motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War, with the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On,” has become so recognizable is serves as the perfect marketing message for just about anything.

Hence, “Brace yourselves…black Friday is coming,” because this sales event really is something your clients need to prepare yourself for in advance.

What can you learn from this? 

Don’t be afraid to connect with your audience, in the language they know and understand. Maybe writing in emojis isn’t in line with your brand, but if your audience is young, play with pop culture and you’ll feel more accessible to them. The more you understand your audience and what they’re interested in, the easier it will be for you find the slogans and taglines that just sing to them!

Arya Stark

Arya is feisty, ambitious and all about breaking gender stereotypes. If you want to market to someone like Arya, you sure as hell shouldn’t approach her with anything pink or girly. If you want to get her allegiance, maybe you should reminder her “you don’t have to be a man to…”

What can you learn from this? 

Lego went through the wringer with their pink girl’s lego sets. Not everything needs to be perfectly packaged for men and women. There is much more gender fluidity, and depending on what you are selling, it may be advantageous to target the opposite sex with something that seems limited to one gender. For example, in Aaron Levy’s post he outlined how men converted more favorably when buying purses online, so writing a message specifically to men, about finding the perfect purse gift, may help seal the deal for an audience you often dismiss.

Hodor

Hodor. Hodor! HODOR!

As our partner, Marchex, outlined in their popular Game of Thrones post, If you want to market to the human version of a Pokemon, you need to convey emotion without necessarily using many words.

What can you learn from this? 

Like they say in literature classes, show don’t tell. Whether it’s with video, imagery or even just capital letters and proper punctuation, you need to convey a strong emotion with as few words as possible in digital marketing to see a big pay off.

Daenerys Targaryen

Everyone’s favorite “khaleesi” is a bit all over the place. She’s independant, but she needs help running the show, she’s intelligent but she’s young and malleable. How can you market to someone who’s reliant on you one day and pushes you away the next (I’m talking about Jorah here).

Maybe she just needs a little straight forward “How to” help, maybe “How to Train your Dragon.”

how-to-train-your-dragon-khaleesi

What can you learn from this? 

Even your most influential and informed clients need help in some way or another. If you offer insight in a way that doesn’t dismiss the expertise your audience already possesses, you offer exceptional value in the form of content marketing. “How to” articles or ebooks aren’t just for beginners, they can become manuals for marketers of all levels, and serve as great lead gen tools.

So there you go, hopefully this Digital Marketing guide for the Game of Thrones Characters will help tide you over until April, when season six picks up again.

Jillian Zacchia

Jillian Zacchia

Jill is a professional writer, editor and social media procrastinator. With a degree in Literature and Communications from McGill, she started her journalism career writing about lifestyle and entertainment for teen magazines, and after dabbling with wedding and travel writing she began the transition towards content creation for start ups, marketing and tech companies.

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