If you have not noticed, superhero movies are a big deal. There are ten superhero movies that are being released in 2022. Ten! It appears that Marvel and DC are pulling out all the stops and finding as many comic book characters as they can to put on the big screen. (If you care to see the list, check here.)

It got me thinking, why don’t we have a marketing superhero? Clark Kent was a newspaperman. Bruce Wayne was an independently wealthy businessman. Why couldn’t someone in marketing be a superhero? Someone like the Masked Marketing Marauder! What would this superhero do? I came up with a list of special powers.

• Hypnosis to make people buy things they don’t really want
• Mind-reading capabilities to see what customers really think, and melt the brains of the ones who don’t like your brand
• Close to mind-reading is rote memorization control, where consumers can hear your brand name and tagline and repeat it verbatim from that moment forward
• Magnetic website luring that draws people to your online ads and makes them click regardless of where they browse
• Social media stalking so we know absolutely everything you do online – oh wait, this one is already covered by Googleman.

Our superhero is starting to sound like a super villain, isn’t he? Making people do and buy things they really don’t want to sounds rather sinister! Yet, that is what many people think they will get when they hire a marketing company – someone who will bend the will of people to buy a brand they have never heard of, don’t really need or want. So if I could drop my cape for a moment, let me give you some advice about marketing.

Marketing works, but it isn’t magic. Marketing helps consumers get to know your brand (we call that awareness marketing), give it a try (we call that first-time sales), and form an opinion about it. It takes the information you find out from these consumers and makes adjustments to the brand and to the way you approach the larger market.

Marketing is always on the move. Those who are in marketing will tell you that you are always testing and measuring your effectiveness. There is no silver bullet, golden lasso, utility belt or any other superpower device that works in marketing. However, there are attitudes of the marketplace and those change from time to time. We manage the opinions of consumers and make adjustments.

Creativity is not marketing. It aids in marketing when it is used in the right way with the right group of people. It is great at capturing the attention of people, but don’t confuse creativity with marketing. Marketing mediums that lend themselves to creativity work only when consumers value them. I get a lot of requests to build something creative for clients. I often ask why they want it. Most of the time, it is because they have seen it somewhere else and think it looks cool. That’s great if your customers think so too and will pay attention to it. But what if they don’t? Don’t get drunk on the creative and believe that everyone else will want to take a drink too. Nearly anything can be a marketing medium. Mediums are made to attract consumers. Do yours attract the right people who will show interest and buy what you are selling? If not, just say no.

A marketing superhero may never happen. It is probably a good thing if it does not because marketing is not about superpowers, but business discipline. Discipline! Can’t we just put a light in the sky beaconing some marketer to come to our aid? Only in the movies.