Four Marketing Lessons Anime Has Taught Me

What does the world’s fastest growing entertainment medium have to teach about marketing? A lot, as it turns out! From understanding your audience to adapting to new technologies, anime has some valuable lessons to share with marketers who are looking to better reach their customers in the modern world. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from watching anime over the years, and how you can apply them in your own marketing plans.

The Power of Visual Aids
Anime is great for marketing — in fact, it’s changing how we use visual aids in marketing. When you’re building a brand or a product, telling your story visually through video and pictures can be an incredibly powerful tool. Why? Visual aids help customers associate with your brand more than text alone ever could. And if it works for anime . . . well, I don’t think you need much convincing on that front!
When you’re telling your story, you want to draw in people and create an emotional connection with them. You want to make them see themselves using your product or brand. But as appealing as that goal is, it can be a little tough if you’re only working with text. With a picture, on the other hand . . . well, it’s just so much easier to make that connection! And since anime is already great at connecting through pictures and video, there are a lot of lessons we can learn from its success.
You don’t just want to tell your audience who you are and what you do — you want them to love your brand. You want them to understand why they should choose your product over its competitors.

Online Community Building
I’m sure you’ve heard of anime communities, maybe even participated in them, but anime fandom is a perfect example of how to build online communities that are great for marketers. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of anime-centric websites, blogs and social networks such as Crunchyroll and Tumblr where people discuss and exchange knowledge about anime. These communities foster a level of engagement that rival what marketers can see on social media platforms.
So how do marketers use anime communities to their advantage? One key lesson is that online communities can help you learn a lot about your potential customers, including what they care about, what’s important to…