Digital Marketing for Beginners: Five quick Tips From Shounen Anime

Digital marketing seems really complex at first. You could easily get confused with a lot of buzzwords like ‘SEO’ and ‘content marketing’ thrown around everywhere. As we enter our first jobs or start our own businesses, high school and college students like us often worry about how we can possibly navigate through the online space. But, digital marketing doesn’t need to be complicated! Let’s see how anyone can learn digital marketing (even beginners) with shonuen anime!

How you might ask? Shounen anime tropes can be important lessons in digital marketing for beginners. Find out more with our 5 key tips to guide you along your digital marketing journey.

Tropes from Shounen Anime that Help You Learn Digital Marketing

1. Shouting Every Attack: Build Up Anticipation For Your Digital Marketing Promotions

This could also be us kamehame-educating you on digital marketing for beginners 🤓

Whether it’s Midoriya’s Smash (My Hero Academia) or Goku’s Kamehameha (Dragon Ball), you already know something big is going to happen once the main character (MC) shouts their signature move. Although the element of surprise can be useful in some cases, there is an even greater advantage in letting the audience know what’s coming next. The key here is building excitement and anticipation. A great example of how digital marketers use this are the infamous monthly sales (11.11, 12.12, etc.) that are able to bring in millions in revenue every year. Announcing these “attacks” in advance are so effective that customers have their carts FILLED even before the designated sale date! If you want to maximize conversion (getting customers to buy), retention (getting customers to make repeat purchases) and even referral (getting customers to recommend you to their network), you better get those signature moves ready!

2. Straightforward Heroes: Have A Clear Idea as You Plan for Your Content for Digital Marketing

Don’t think about it too much! Just trust us 😌

A shounen anime’s most important element is arguably it’s main character. We’ve been blessed with a number of iconic MCs over the years, and there is one thing they all have in common: the simplicity and clarity of their characters. Their honesty (and sometimes one-track-mindedness) not only makes them endearing to the audience, but also easy to understand and identify. If there’s one thing digital marketers can learn from this, it’s to avoid overcomplicating things. From your branding elements and copywriting, to your media and collaterals, a clear marketing idea and message is often the best way to reach your customers!

3. Finding your Nakama: Build Online Communities Around Your Brand

The power of friendship! 🎉

Shounen anime like One Piece features the protagonist drawing strength from his companions. The development of their relationships is one of the most enjoyable pay-offs of the show. On a similar note, digital marketing also relies on the power of a brand’s community. A community is composed of the people who advocate for your brand. Having a positive long-term relationship with your community can lead to the results you want. In addition, strong community support can lead to so much more than just revenue and profit. If you have an adoring group of people, it could result in an elevated brand image, an increase in your brand’s value, or an improvement in your brand’s overall equity (i.e. more consumers who love your brand)!

4. The Importance of Adventure: Plan the Consumer Journey

Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb!

Despite the number of episodes, shounen anime are still amusing every time. We can agree that it wouldn’t be the same if Inuyasha collected all the Shikon no Tama shards in one season. It was entertaining to see the demon dog warrior go through different challenges before they fulfilled this task. In digital marketing, there are also no shortcuts that would make you win the hearts of your consumers at once! Instead use business strategies like the RACE framework. RACE stands for Reach, Acquisition, Conversion, and Engagement. Plan for these stages ahead to maximize the consumer journey. In other words, it’s a process. We have to increase our customers’ awareness and encourage participation first. Then, if we’ve worked hard enough, we can induce trial and even repeat purchase from them later on. As digital marketers, we should keep these consumer journey stages in mind as we create content.

5. Characters with Emotional Scenes: Design Consumer Touchpoints

Don’t worry digital marketing is nothing to cry about though!

We all felt the pain of Kaneki Ken who became a ghoul, or rooted for Naruto who longed to be a hokage. However, one would wonder, what makes these underdogs so relatable that we share their sentiments and goals? It’s the way shounen anime designs emotional touchpoints with its audience. In the beginning of an anime, we immediately feel the emotional pull of the goals these protagonists are reaching for. We build empathy for them throughout their story. Then, we receive immense satisfaction as they achieve their dreams! This can also be applicable in digital marketing. At every stage of the consumer journey, find the unsolved problem or the unanswered wishes of the consumer that can be solved with your business’ solution. Capitalize on how your customers think and feel about these. So that in solving them, you are also giving them that rewarding contentment they’ve been looking for.

Ready to dive in the world of digital? Get started with these additional resources to learn digital marketing for beginners too!

Digital Marketing for Beginners: Five quick Tips From Shounen Anime6 min read