Marketing Lessons From The Obama Campaign
Posted on November 4, 2008
Filed Under Business, Marketing |
Five Marketing Lessons From the Obama Campaign
By Gene Pinder
Marketers in for-profit ventures and non-profit organizations can learn a lot about marketing from the way the Obama campaign has been run. Here are key five lessons:
Consistent Branding and Positioning
One of the strengths of the Obama campaign has been to effectively channel the “change” mantra over the past 18 months without wavering. Not only was this message consistent with the Senator’s overall views, but it resonated with the public. Contrast that effort with the Hillary Clinton and John McCain campaigns, which both experimented with different messages at different times. Marketers of all stripes would be wise to find a resonating branding message and stick with it over time instead of bouncing from one slogan after another.
Relationship and Database Marketing
The Obama campaign hasn’t just mastered new media techniques for generating buzz and contributions. They’ve made it personal. From the viral Facebook campaigns to the personalized e-mail messages, the Obama people have made every individual feel important and part of a larger team. In other words, they created evangelists. That’s just good, sound marketing - using positive word of mouth build a wellspring of loyal “customers.” It’s no accident that Senator Obama’s early community activist days have helped him in this election. He built up his support from the ground up. Marketers could and should be doing the same. Every strong word-of-mouth customer is worth his or her weight in gold.
Measuring Results
The Obama campaign has not just built up strong bases of support, but they have measured effectiveness every step of the way. In other words - a strong analytical approach. Based on reports, it appears the Obama campaign has kept track of everything - what works, what doesn’t work, and what to apply to every situation. How many marketers can say the same thing about their efforts? Running commercials or ads and not carefully measuring effectiveness or results? If so, then you may be vulnerable when your bosses want to see what they are getting for their money.
Money Helps
A large marketing war chest doesn’t guarantee revenue success, just as a large contribution base doesn’t guarantee you votes. But it helps. Because of their historic fundraising success, the Obama campaign has been able to dictate the strategic landscape. That is, they have been able to simultaneously compete in more states than McCain, and they’ve been able to overwhelm the swing states with more local offices. That “shock and awe” effort has clearly put their competitor on his heels. How many times have marketing professionals started a campaign without the necessary funds to get the desired results? How many times has the marketing money run out before the campaign had a chance to get “legs?” Good marketing takes time and, as is often the case, time is money.
Strategic and Tactical
From the very beginning, the Obama campaign has been both strategic and tactical in its efforts. In fact, one could argue that this could be the Senator’s greatest strength - the ability to think one step ahead of the pack, while at the same time not losing site of the day-to-day activities that are required to get things done. The examples are numerous. Obama made a strategic decision early on to speak out against the Iraqi war, knowing full well he would be able to use that decision to differentiate himself from the competition in the primaries, especially Senator Clinton. At the same time, he and his staff have made numerous tactical decisions on how to organize local supporters, how to raise funds online, how to effectively compete in the swing states, how to deal with the potential financial meltdown, and many others. As marketers, we can all do a better job of doing both. We often get so bogged down in the day-to-day mechanics of running a marketing campaign that we forget to take the time to step back and really think about the direction we want to go.
Gene Pinder is the director of marketing for Centennial Campus, a high-tech research park at NC State University.
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