What Harry Potter Knows about Marketing
- Mon, August 03 2009
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
I read this line from the seventh Harry Potter book to my daughter just last week: “It’s the wizard that makes the wand, not the other way around.”
And of course, I thought of marketing. Dumbledore (who I think said this) knows nonprofit marketing.
We tend to think of marketing as a magic wand. Or we imagine the latest and greatest tools are magic wands. But no amount of direct mail, re-branding, online outreach functionality, DonateNow buttons, social media or other supposed magic wand is going to work without YOU.
You have to be the wizard. The one who injects the tools with feeling and story, an appeal to human nature, and resonance with audience values. If you don’t do that, the wand won’t work. Nothing will.
- Share:
Comments
excellent reminder for all of us small business owners & entrepreneurs, regardless of industry… thanks
Right On, Katya! I appreciate you sharing this point, and I’m going to remind my clients with it now.