2 Lessons from Politics

At lunch today with a political consultant, we discussed the presidential campaign. Here are two things that drive me crazy about HRC and DNC that you should think about for your own company.

The first thing is that the same team that lost four years ago (in a primary) was probably not going to win you this election. While I understand loyalty, we are in politics and business to win. To win, you have to be like a sports team. On a team, every draft and every opportunity we trade up to better players. We don’t keep the whole team in place. We get a better running back or pitcher or quarterback (football, baseball, hockey).

Channel managers get swapped out all the time, but, with few exceptions, the upper management stays the same. Good strategy and its execution comes from the top, that management team. Sometimes they need to be shaken up or replaced. You want A Players in every position.

Also, what worked four years ago in strategy and marketing may not work today. In fact, we saw that this was indeed the case. Think about all the changes in just four years – or go back eight years to when social media first entered the picture for political fundraising.

From that we get to my second thing that drives me crazy: the marketing. This consists of the message and the medium. What was the message?

For the GOP with 20+ candidates, that slate looks like any master agent’s UCaaS roster. How do you differentiate? How do you position against 20 candidates? You could go features, but that isn’t what anyone cares about. WIIFM. What’s in it for me? If you can’t answer that, you are lost.

This election cycle there was the issue of fake news and misinformed voters. Now with the GOP Senate starting to repeal ObamaCare, we have seen that many folks didn’t realize that the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was nicknamed Obamacare. Or that Kentucky residents had re-branded ObamaCare to something to raise enrollment. The misinformation about the ACA is widespread. So is the misinformation about UC, UCaaS, UC&C and SD-WAN.

When you have misinformed buyers, you need to do an education campaign. The best education campaign was Schoolhouse Rocks. It is easier to do today than it was in 80s. More platforms for the content. Cheap to produce quality video. You don’t have to be Disney to do this, but you do have to make a conscious decision to go this route. You have to realize that your buyers need/want education. You have to strategize what that education is going to look like.

I know I yell message all day every day but you are putting out a message every day. Unfortunately, the message is ineffective.

See marketing lessons from the election.

Tags: marketing, politics
Related tags: education campaign, message, years, education, marketing, election