We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential. – Barack Obama
If you are like me (and even if you aren’t) you probably watched the election this year with Awe. It seemed that even when the going got tough and the mud-slinging got rampant, our now President-Elect Barack Obama kept his cool and ran one of the most innovative and effective campaigns EVER. Even taking out the “Presidential” element of this campaign, Mr. Obama ran one of the most awesomely instrumented marketing, informational, and electrifying “companies” out there. And I, for one, think that he has single-handedly changed the political world forever.
Recently, there have been hundreds of posts regarding his comprehensive campaign and what we in the business community should learn about it. Alison Rogers who writes the column “Diary of a Real Estate Rookie” at Inman recently wrote an entry entitled “A Presidential Marketing Lesson” and breaks the bullet points of his campain into 5 easily digestible areas of focus.
1. Define your brand.
2. Give people a place to find you.
3. Have a weird name.
4. Offer, if it’s possible, premiums.
5. Put the calls to action in your drip marketing.
And where I agree with Alison on these points I think that it goes even further than this. There are many paralells that we as business folks should identify with (in additon to those above) and adopt immediately. Some of those that stand out to me are as follows:
- Be Human – The guy was likeable. He could talk to a celebrity and then turn around and talk to a UAW worker in Detroit… and he did so by being authentic. (For more on this check out the book Authenticity – What Consumers Really Want by Pine, Gilmore and Joseph)
- Put your Value Proposition where everyone can see it. On his website there was an ISSUES tab that outlined his views, stances, and what he wanted to do about it. QUESTION: Do your clients see your value proposition and what you stand for on your website or in your branded items?
- Don’t sugar coat shit. I don’t know another way to say it, (sorry if I offended anyone), but it’s true. Obama ran this entire campain on change and hope… but in his acceptance speech, Mr. Obama set the record straight by stating, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.” Read the full transcript here
- Use all the tools. SMS, Email, Viral Video, blogs, podcasts, oh my! Obama used all of them to get his message of Change out to the public. But… many of us aren’t incredibly savvy to this technology? Hire someone. Take a class. Try something out. Experiment. I will say this and mean it… you cannot compete in today’s marketplace without using all the tools at your disposal.
- Stick to your message and brand. Throughout everything, Obama stuck to one point and continued to leverage it throughout the campaign. CHANGE and HOPE. These were not necessarily tangable elements, but allowed him to capitalize on the desire for a better America.
And lastly, excite your audience by believing in what you preach. Read, listen, or watch any of his speeches throughout the campaign and see how, even calmly, he is passionate about everything he speaks on. Where President “Elect” Obama may have changed the rules of presidential campaigns forever, by taking some points from him and his “You Factor” I think we can all turn our respectful business worlds on their ear.
- Dollinger