My latest book, History of the Undead, is a case in point. When it was published I wondered how the hell I could use it to promote Popple Services. 

Then it hit me. Marketing avatars and the undead. A match made in ... well, the graveyard.

Let me explain. We all know client avatars help us to market our services to the right people with the right message. In my brain I saw three types of undead clients who each approached the world differently. 

Mummies are generally quite passive creatures who are controlled by a genius but evil high priest and have no agency of their own. 

 

In the working day they do what they are told without question and then when they have completed the task in hand, they climb back into their sarcophagus, arms crossed over their chest and go back to sleep until the high priest has another task for him to do.  

 

So, who do we know who is like this? 

 

In jobs I have hated I have been like this. I have done the tasks the evil (but rarely genius) boss asked me to do, and then I went home at 5pm and returned the next day for the next list of tasks. 

Not an inspiring life, but it gets the job done.  

Next we have the capitalist business leaders – the vampires. 

 

Vampires have two main things going for them; they are eternal and they don't age. This makes them exceptional business leaders and therefore very rich. A wealth they have built up over centuries.  

 

However, most vampires are not very nice – personality wise. 

 

They look down on mere mortals, who they view as weak and finite. They are therefore patronising, rude and do not treat humans with respect. Often they have also made much of their business acquisitions through killing people. 

 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You could be a successful but nice business leader. 

 

Imagine having hundreds if not thousands of years to perfect your business skills. As mortals, if staying in a career for life this is limited to about 40 years. 

 

Vampires also have the ability to dazzle mortals and convince them of anything at all. We have all met sales people like this - that silver tongued demon who sold us something completely pointless.  A few years ago me and a friend met one of these demons, who sold both of us a Himalayan salt ball. When we got home and the dazzle had worn off we wondered what the hell we had been thinking, and what we were going to do with the ball. 

 

Despite the decaying flesh, and cannibalism a zombie business leader wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. 

 

Zombies are very single-minded and they don’t give up. They relentlessly follow their desire (which is mostly brains) and if they come up against a brick wall – metaphorical or real – they push against it for a while before wandering off and chasing their dreams another way. 

Obviously being so single minded can have negative aspects, especially if little thought goes into a strategy of achieving this single goal. 

But being focused and not allowing setbacks to derail us is a great characteristic in business or in life. 

 

I have an element of zombie in my approach to most things – and I have been told I am an ‘all or nothing’ person – throwing everything I have into a project. Luckily I do try to put in some strategic thought behind it. And I am not particularly fond of eating brains. 

So, how do you market to these different undead client avatars? To find out download the free Undead Guide to Blogs (normally £4.99).