You can learn a lot about marketing from Dracula. Dracula has done it all. He's made lots of different products. And he's made a killing (so to speak) in a lot of different markets. You should try to do what Dracula has done.

I just visited the Internet Movie Database ( http://www.imdb.com ) and looked up 'Dracula'. It listed 113 movies that have been made about Dracula. How can there be 113 movies about Dracula?!? To tell you the truth, there are actually more, but the titles just didn't show up in a search on 'Dracula'.

The oldest movie I could find in the list was made in 1922. Although it was a silent movie, it looks like it was made in Germany. It wasn't really a movie version of the original novel, but it was certainly based on the novel.

And in the 81 years since then, at least 112 more movies were made based (in some way) on that same novel.

Obviously, people like the novel, or at least the idea behind it. So people have tried to put it on the screen. And they've done it in countless different ways.

Stay with me. There's a marketing lesson here.

Let's look at all of the different markets that Dracula has catered to. Originally, the novel was transformed into a movie for people who like movies. Great idea.

Later, Dracula movies were made in different languages, to cater to different markets that don't speak the same language.

Dracula pиre et fils Drakula Istanbul'da and more.

But sticking to the original novel, Dracula was really only appealing to people who liked horror movies. So eventually, we began to see very loose interpretations of Dracula for the non-horror markets.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (comedy) Dracula: The Dirty Old Man (comedy) and more.

Movie makers must have also recognized the popularity of Godzilla movies and realized that people like watching monsters fight monsters. So then we got...

Dracula vs. Frankenstein Los Monstruos del Terror and so on.

But there are also movies that actually take the story of Dracula and build on it. Make it into something more. Add to the story. Movies like...

Dracula's Widow Lady Dracula Son of Dracula Dracula's Dog and so on.

And of course, as technology has become more sophisticated, we've seen more visually spectacular Dracula movies. A far cry from the original black and whites. People who wouldn't want to see the original movies still like to see the modern special effects movies.

You probably see how this relates to your own marketing efforts. You don't have to come up with something original to be successful. You just need to find out what people already like and put your own twist on it.

Can you make something better?

Can you change something a little so that it meets a different need?

Can you copy an existing product and make it available to a different market?

Can you use new technology to do something better?

It's great if you can come up with something new and innovative. But it's hard to succeed at that. It's much easier to build on what other people have already done. Don't just blatantly copy someone else's ideas. But use their ideas as the foundation that you'll build upon.

Follow Dracula's example and you'll be in good shape.

About the author: Dave Brown is a self-taught marketer and software developer. He also publishes the uncommon and uniquely original newsletter on making the most of your life - A Fresh Perspective. You can learn more at http://www.dave-brown.com