What the Walking Dead Can Teach You About Marketing

 I recently contributed to THE WALKING DEAD MARKETING GUIDE TO KILLING IT IN 2013 article. If you're interested in knowing how you can spread your brand like a deadly outbreak of zombies, check it out.Here are my top 3 thoughts on what businesses can learn from the acclaimed show:1) They let their fans do the talking. The Walking Dead treats social mediaas it should: like a telephone, not a megaphone. They create fun,interesting, humorous, and easy to share content that is engaging. As such,their fans have become brand ambassadors. If you look at the web trafficand marketing that's out there, most of it is coming from their customers,not the brand itself. It's more viral than a zombie outbreak.2) The Walking Dead knows what their target audience wants and sticks toit. Too many businesses are trying to be everything to everyone instead offocusing on their niche audience. If you target the niche and focus on thepeople who are most excited about the product/service, they'll be morelikely to share with their circle of friends outside of the niche. Itworked with The Walking Dead and it's certainly worked with my brand, TheSlants.3) The Walking Dead watches internet trends and playfully puts their ownspin on it. There are many social media listening tools that allow you tosee what is trending. It's OK to jump on board as long as you do it in arelevant way. It's even better when you create your own trend.