3 Things Marketers Can Learn From Governor Romney and President Obama
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
This is not a political article. Ant it isn't an article about
who will win the race for the White House during this year's presidential election. Nor is this an article about
political policy, polling data or even hot-button social issues. Rather, this is a post about what the
campaigns can teach marketers. No one has done more marketing in the last few
months then Governor Romney and President Obama. We should definitely be learning something from their campaigns.
The Presidential election is less than a week away. The time
for Americans to choose their leader is nearly at hand. The campaigns have
churned out well over $1B worth of advertisements, videos, content and
branding. They have pounded each other, lauded their owned accomplishments, and
pandered to the American people. After this sprint of a campaign, the candidates
can now see the finish line. They are sprinting down the homestretch in an effort
to be hired for the most powerful job in the world.
What can we take from their organizations to help ours?
1) Great Video
Have you seen the biographic videos produced by the
campaigns? If you haven't, here is Governor Romney’s and here is President Obama’s. They are both extraordinarily well done.
Also well done are the campaigns’ negative ads.
And, whether or not you like all the negative campaign ads
isn't the point. Studies show that most people don't like negative campaign
ads. However, those ads do help win elections. The reason we see them so
frequently is because they work. And, incidentally, they are becoming more
common, not less.
What to do
Now, you certainly can’t afford to spend money like the
Presidential campaigns. However, you can produce well thought out scripts, high
quality footage, and even decent narration, on a shoestring.
2) Branding and Recognition
You have, no doubt, seen the Obama campaign's sunrise logo
or the big letter 'R' that denotes the Romney campaign. Both of these images
have gained immediate mindshare. They are beautiful looking logos and convey
what the campaign is about.
More importantly, perhaps, the campaigns have maintained
brand consistency. Many companies struggle with this, swinging wildly from one
branding concept to another. While the candidates may verbally swing back and
forth and remain inconsistent on the campaign trail, their branding has
remained constant. Everything from the taglines, to the logos, to the visuals
has been choreographed beautifully.
What to do
Get your branding figured out right now. Some companies waste valuable time and
resources either unsure of their branding, or branding incorrectly. How do you
know if you're doing it wrong? Well, here are a couple of questions to ask
yourself to determine if your branding is clear:
-- If your customers were asked what your tagline
is, could they tell you?
-- If your employees were asked to draw your logo,
could they do it?
--Can any employee explain what your company does
AND why you do it better than anyone else in 10 – 15 seconds?
--Are you branding consistently?
3) Social Media
The campaigns don’t just post stuff to their respective Twitter
accounts and hope people will read it. Rather, they actually engage with their
social media audience. Both candidates have hosted Google+ Hangout sessions.
Both tweet regularly. Both post images and video. Both have their immediate families
and supporters use social media regularly.
Are the people closest to you—or even all your
employee—using social media to spread the good word about your company?
The Obama campaign set new standards for social media
marketing in 2008. And both campaigns are doing a great job this year. The
Obama campaign clearly had a built in social media engagement advantage coming
into the race. But the Romney campaign has sought to mitigate that advantage.
Both campaigns understand how critical social media marketing is. They seek to
trend on Twitter, accrue 'Likes' on Facebook, and +1s on their websites.
This should be a valuable lesson for marketers everywhere.
What to do
I am always stunned by how reluctant employees are
about getting involved in the social media efforts of the company they work
for. Companies like Hubspot and Marketo have 20 to 25 employees on Twitter.
They tweet regularly, build their own brand constantly, and grow followers
daily. These companies get it. We’re still working on it at LogMyCalls.
Other companies struggle to get anyone outside of the marketing department to
even post company-related things on their Facebook pages or create a Twitter
account.
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
0 comments :
Post a Comment
Please note that we reject all posts that clearly are leaving a comment simply to acquire a back link. Only comment if you have something of value to share with other readers.
Thanks!