In this blog—I’m going to break down what you can learn about website design & marketing from The Haunted Movie (2003).
You’ll learn:
- Why you need to make a good first impression with the design of your website 🪦
- What your ideal clients expect to see on your website 🏚
- Ways niching your business can help you reach ideal clients 🧟
- How to not accidentally get stranded at a Haunted Mansion 👻
(Never watched The Haunted Mansion before or need a refresh? Click here for the summary.)
(PSA for the purposes of this newsletter I’ll only be going over the 2003 movie from The Haunted Mansion franchise, not the reboot from this year or The Muppets version—because I haven’t seen nor plan on watching either of them 😉)
Let’s start with the marketing & launch for The Haunted Mansion.
The Haunted Mansion was inspired by the Disneyland ride of the same name & released in November of 2003 (making this year the 20th anniversary 🎉).
Yes…*facepalm*…a spooky movie premiere…in November…
Granted this movie “technically” doesn’t happen on Halloween night but still…like I talked about in last week’s email about Hocus Pocus—October arguably would’ve been a better release date.
But apparently, that was okay timing for this premiere because The Haunted Mansion actually did somewhat well at the box office so…*shrug*
Unlike some of the other classic Disney Halloween movies—I actually remember a little bit about the marketing for this movie. It was promoted on the Disney channel constantly via a song by Raven-Symoné & in trailers before other movies.
BUT even though the movie was marketed well & did okay at the box office—it received a lot of poor reviews from critics.
It’s kind of like in business where sometimes you’ve gotta ignore the haters if your ideal clients are happy.
Even though the movie didn’t receive 5-star reviews the fans love it to this day.
This quote from a review of the movie sums it up best I think:
“All the young families who were kids back then & who now have their own kids, they all watch the Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy at Halloween, & they love it. So it definitely had its niche of an audience, & that audience is still devoted to it, so Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy is not by any means a failed attempt at what it was.”
Niching your business can help you achieve this kind of fandom for your business.
As hard as niching is, it really is where the riches are—because when you become the ONLY one who can do the thing you do, the way you do it, for the people you do it for—you become the go-to option.
Bottom line: Ignore the people who don’t pay you & niche your business if you want to become the go-to expert in your industry.
And to finish off this blog…
Here are some notable quotes & plot points from the script of The Haunted Mansion movie & ride that can help you with your website design & marketing.
Quote: The Ghost Host: “Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your ghost host. Kindly step all the way in please & make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now.” (The beginning of this quote is said in the movie too.)
Business Lesson: Unlike The Haunted Mansion, when someone lands on your website they can turn back & bounce off your website. <<< How to minimize this you ask? You’ve gotta make a good first impression. Not only does your website need to look nice—because statistically most people prefer pretty websites. But you also need to introduce quickly on your website what kinds of problems you can help your ideal clients solve (see quote for example)—and you need to do this with all your headlines. Because only 20% of your copy is read (aka. most people skim read) you’ve gotta make the information they do read count.
*SPOILER ALERT AHEAD*
Quote: Jim Evers: “The butler did it? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Business Lesson: While it’s not great to have predictable plot points in movies—when it comes to your website it’s okay (and often better) to have some sense of predictability. There are certain features that your website visitors are going to expect you to have. For example, most people expect mobile menus to open from the top right corner of the screen. <<< It’s okay to get creative with layouts on your website—BUT when it comes to navigational stuff it’s best to stick to the normal. You NEVER want to make someone guess how to click around your website to find information or get to the next step toward working with you.
Your action step:
Scroll through your website. Do you like how the design looks or is it starting to look like a haunted house—aka. old & out-of-date and/or in need of a clean-up? And is it easy to navigate without struggling to find where something is? <<< Not sure about either of these? Have a friend or 3 look at your website & give feedback on the design & navigation.
