Quick guide: Marketing

[powerplantanimations]

I remember barbies being made for Captain Marvel and Black Widow when their films came out so.... most likely? But what about Marvel Legends? Because I saw figures for characters from those films as well (well Captain Marvel anyway).

[RobertBMarks]

I remember barbies being made for Captain Marvel and Black Widow so.... most likely? But what about Marvel Legends?

We are now well past my point of knowing things...and I REALLY need to write this chapter. I'm going to go for a few hours...

[powerplantanimations]

Lol okay. Good luck m8

[TAMAnnoying]

I'm actually from a place where we get a lot of immigrants and I've met a couple of little girls named America while teaching! Can't remember if Mexican or Cuban cause it's not proper to ask those kind of questions but it seems to be a kind of "hope for the future" kind of thing where you name your kid after this place that you feel gives you more freedoms and hope for the future.

Tho I have zero idea what the idea behind naming her America was since she was from a utopia where only women exist so like I'm not even sure America would exist as a place or a word?!

But it's ok cause everything everywhere all at once was a much better mulitverse movie with real representation and an actual plot

[NickRowler]

Mattel used to be Disney's main partner when it came to selling toys, especially the Disney Princesses. But due to a dispute, Disney ended up jumping ship and partnering with Hasbro instead. Around that time, Hasbro was having a lot of luck with their reboot of My Little Pony so it seemed like a good idea at the time. But recently, Disney has decided to go back to Mattel. And my guess is Mattel is going to try not to piss off Disney again.

[aqua03]

[DiegoPalacios]

This is why Robert is seeing trends going one way so it seems like it isn't working out... while meanwhile at my day job in kids media, I'm developing diverse kids shows with diverse creators, because there's absolutely a ton of demand for diversity in children's books and shows right now.

But you may notice that the diversity is not the main selling point displayed in marketing.
They are not gonna conceal it, but series like Craig of the Creek or the Owl house's main marketing focus are the premise, worldbuilding and character dinamics, not the cast's skin color or sexual orientation.

Also, there are cases where the the diversity is promoted is done in a preachy and patronizing way, which alienates audiences that otherwise would be interested. Obviously not everyone does that, but cases like this exist. The case of High Guardian Spice is the perfect example of social media suicide.

[NickRowler]

Uh, maybe you are misremembering things but I definitely have heard people bring up the diversity of the show when promoting Craig of the Creek. Heck, here is an article from 2018 where they mention it and said they were motivated by the positive response to the diversity in Steven Universe.
https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/craig-of-the-creek-kids-gone-wild/

There characters were also used in a Twitter post talking about different pronouns

There was also promotion for the ASL rep, even posting an isolated clip to their YouTube
https://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/clip-craig-learns-asl-in-tonights-craig-of-the-creek/

And there is probably other stuff too but I don't follow CN on Twitter so this is what I just came across.

[DiegoPalacios]

well.....kids are not supposed to be on twitter, which is an odd move on CN's part......

Maybe they are aiming at adults who watch kids shows with a periphery demographic?

[ratscout]

Sometimes, I wish we could have a civil conversation without immediately resorting to calling each other racists/sexists/and other ists. I do agree with what some people said on here about separating how to market from accidentally shooting yourself in the foot with bad marketing by disrespecting your audience LOL (I think that should be a separate topic), but I do also think that people were way too quick to be accusing you of ists--or at least on the verge of it (no wonder the word has lost all meaning rolls eyes). Honestly, the psychology behind these companies is fascinating, though. I don't have a problem with lesbian romances, but I do think you are limiting your audience by purely marketing something as a lesbian romance. A very small percentage of the population is gay, and you might have trouble marketing it to the other, like, 99% of the population if you are trying to solely sell the show on that. That doesn't mean that population is homophobic--it just means they most likely won't have an interest in it. I also think those who are gay would be looking at the show and saying to themselves, "Okay. They are gay. What else?"

Even with a straight romance, you would probably market something additional to the romance aspect. For example, while Gone With the Wind is technically a romance, it's also a historical epic about civil war, which might draw in a male audience in addition to the female romance (in fact, it did, because it's one of the highest grossing films). Similarly, Titanic, while a romance, is also historical and the male audience knows there's going to be a giant iceberg in the latter half, so they might tune in. XD

I mean, imagine if someone came up to you in real life and only told you their sexuality/race but nothing else. You would probably be like... "I dunno where to take this conversation." Tell me more specific things about your characters if you want me to get interested (e.g., hobbies, job, struggles, is their romantic life going up in flames? What kind of world do they live in? How does their sexuality/race impact the story, or does it at all?)

[Freemints30]

Look I get where your coming from. But literally No one here accused any one of being racist, sexist or anything. Honestly reading through this whole thread it honestly alot more civil than expected, not sure what your on about.

As someone decided to dive into romance... usually the romance IS the marketing point in alot of straight romances. Like its usually "hot stud with cute book worm" ect. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And neither it is for queer romance we are small but we are still a big Audience. Marketing as unapologetically queer or poc does help for audiences who are actively searching for that content and that audience reads and pays for that kind of content more readily. And the titanic example may not be the best thing to say ""appeals to male viewers"" with the amount of male critiques constantly talking crap about it. And many cis men not bothering with it considering a "chick flick"

I rarely seen people go "read my stuff its has X represntation" and are part of the community.

Honestly I more see nowdays "this is forced down my throat" and it's like one kiss.

A small loyal and niche audience is still a profitable audience. If you cultivate and attract a usually neglected demography.

[rajillustration]

I think it's also important to know the platform you are publishing on. Like the discussion of how to market diversity changes a lot if you're putting out a book on Tapas vs another publisher. Tapas goes well out of it's way over the past several years to build an audience that is looking for LGTBQA+ diversity. This type of audience building may not be happening in other places you can post a novel (of which there are many, and each have a slightly different audience.)

So yeah, here on Tapas, using those tags and just saying "My story has LGBTQA diversity" may actually be enough because that group feels so underserved by other places. But if you only do that much somewhere else where the audience wants more of like fantasy or sci-fi it'll be like...yes? And? Because honestly, who amongst us has never written a gay character? None, right? It's in a lot of books right now, it truly is, although sometimes it does take a microscope to see it. But if that's what you are looking for, primarily, then you know how to search for it.

And there is a concept in marketing where you want to know the pain points of your audience (which I didn't invent calling it "pain points" and I wish it had a different name, but that's the name I've heard). You want to know what they desperately wish for, what causes them pain, and how you can fix it with whatever your story is. I think a lot of Tapas creators do know about the pain point of a vacuum of main characters in media who are proper representation. But that vacuum doesn't exist everywhere because not every audience has the same pain points.

So know your audience, and know that for every platform, the pain points will probably be different, and your blurb and how you market for them will probably have to be adjusted.

[NickRowler]

But what do you say to something like Heartstopper who's only selling point was it was a gay love story. There wasn't any add about plots and I don't think many even mentioned it being British but it was a huge hit because I think there is a large audience who is starving for that kind of content but are being told by executives that "no one wants that" or "there is no audience".

Similar with Our Flag Means Death. The selling point was "they are pirate and they are gay". Like if you only sold the show as a "goofy pirate show" I think people who weren't expecting the gay romance might be a bit shocked or maybe feel a bit mislead (depending on who it is).

I don't really agree that you need to be secretive about LGBTQ people being in a story if that is the whole premise of the show.

I even looked up a trailer on First Kill, the show that OP mentioned. They do clearly state there are vampires in the show along with hinting at the romance. And there was clearly an audience who loved the show and were heartbroken when it was cancelled. I don't think the show was cancelled because no one was watching, I think it was more that Netflix is a shitty company that doesn't really know how to handle their IPs. EDIT: I was not aware they cancelled the show literally two months after it premiered, WTF.

[powerplantanimations]

Yeah, I took that as a realistic possibility but like.... she's not even from our world like you said lmao. Most of the Mexicans I'm surrounded by are cynical as heck, so it just bothered me throughout the entire movie.

@ratscout I also agree with this statement 101%.

[TheLemmaLlama]

literally No one here accused any one of being racist, sexist or anything. Honestly reading through this whole thread it honestly alot more civil than expected, not sure what your on about.

No-one used the exact words, but there was a bit of shade being thrown tbh Like, a mod literally showed up at one point to suggest everyone cool down a little. I agree though this discussion is more civil than what it would've been in a lot of other places on the internet

I don't have a problem with lesbian romances, but I do think you are limiting your audience by purely marketing something as a lesbian romance. A very small percentage of the population is gay, and you might have trouble marketing it to the other, like, 99% of the population if you are trying to solely sell the show on that.

I do wonder though how much sexuality actually dictates one's interest in certain types of romance ... I'm aro, but I like romance (between people of any genders) - and also if sexuality was that big a part of it, I'd feel like straight guys would be about as interested in straight romance as straight ladies (but clearly the stereotype is guys hate romance XD). I won't doubt sexuality is a factor, but idk if it's that big a factor, I guess XD (argh I can't word today :'D)

[rajillustration]

I don't really agree that you need to be secretive about LGBTQ people being in a story if that is the whole premise of the show.

I said that no where. You may need to reread to get what I was trying to say.

[ratscout]

I did clarify in the post that it was "on the verge of being called an ist." but as someone else said, I do feel there were unnecessary personal attacks on this thread.

While I agree that romance is the selling point of straight romances, it is primarily catered to a straight female audience, not a male audience, so it still is missing out on a wide audience (males). Nobody said there's anything wrong with marketing to those audiences, I just think you will miss out on a bigger audience if you ONLY market to that audience.

I need a citation for the thing you said about Titanic. XD Where is the statistic that shows no males enjoyed Titanic? Even if they didn't enjoy it, they clearly went to see it since it is so highly grossing, so the marketing for it was successful. But I do believe that plenty of dudes enjoy Titanic, including my dad and brother. I enjoy it, too, even though I think it is kinda goofy LOL, and I am a lady.

Also, I see plenty of threads on Tapas marketing stories solely based on "my story has LGBTQ representation." the difference being that Tapas has a built in audience for that so it makes sense to do so.

[ratscout]

I can only speak from personal experience and say that, as a straight lady, I've never had too much of an interest in gay media. Doesn't mean I don't like it, it just means that it doesn't grab my attention. Call me by Your Name was really, really boring in my opinion. XD I do love The Birdcage, though. It's got a lot of charm and humor and humanizes gay people in a way that other media just doesn't. I think it's because it's more relationship-based rather than sex-based? A lot of media on Tapas tends to be sex-based/lust-based rather than relationship-based.

[Freemints30]

I just think you will miss out on a bigger audience if you ONLY market to that audience.

And why is this a problem?

Once again you can't market to Everyone. Like should you not write horror cus you miss out on people who hate scary stuff?

Should you make you stuff PG-13 and not 18+ cus you may miss out on a child audience. Once agian missing out on an audience is not a failure of the creator. Its more and evidentiality of finding your niche and excelling in it.

Where is the statistic that shows no males enjoyed Titanic?

Also I never said that. I said they are more that Male Critiques tend to look down upon it. Look up the term chick flick. ALso I can beg to differ from the amount of cis males in my life who despise Specifically cus its romance. You can you have not experience in that and I can say I have

Also, I see plenty of threads on Tapas marketing stories solely based on "my story has LGBTQ representation."

Also need a citation on that, from users over the age of 13. You wished that from me and I wish that from you

Maybe read my message again.

But I ask again, why did you assume people where about to call you something-ist?

Does that happen to you often?

[NickRowler]

Sorry if I didn't make it clear. My statement was not just targeted at you. Just me rambling my opinions in general.

(I haven't had a proper nights sleep in a month so I am a bit loopy in the head)