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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Employee benefit plan accounts are deposits of a pension plan, profit-sharing plan or other employee benefit plan.

Employee benefit plan deposits are insured up to $100,000 for each participant’s non-contingent interest in the plan.

This coverage is known as “pass-through” insurance because the insurance coverage passes through the plan administrator to each participant’s interest or share.

Coverage for a plan’s deposits is not based on the number of participants, but rather on each participant’s share of the plan. Because plan participants normally have different interests in the plan, insurance coverage cannot be determined by simply multiplying the number of participants by $100,000.

To determine the maximum amount a plan can have on deposit in a single bank and remain fully insured, first determine which participant has the largest share of the plan assets, then divide $100,000 by that percentage. For example, if a plan has 20 participants, but one participant has an 80% share of the plan assets, the most that can be on deposit and remain fully insured is $125,000. ($100,000/.80 = $125,000)

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Corporation/Partnership/Unincorporated Association Accounts

Corporations, partnerships, and unincorporated associations, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, are insured under the same ownership category.

To qualify for coverage under this category, a corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association must be engaged in an “independent activity,” meaning that the entity is operated primarily for some purpose other than to increase insurance coverage.

Deposits owned by a corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association are insured up to $100,000 at a single bank, but are insured separately from the personal accounts of the entity’s stockholders, partners, or members.

Accounts owned by the same corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association but designated for different purposes are not separately insured. Instead, such accounts are added together and insured up to $100,000. For example, if a corporation has divisions or units that are not separately incorporated, the deposit accounts of those divisions or units would be added to any other deposit accounts of the corporation and the total insured up to $100,000.

The number of partners, members, or account signatories that a corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association has does not affect coverage. For example, deposits owned by a homeowners association are insured up to $100,000 in total, not $100,000 for each member of the association.

Unincorporated associations typically insured under this category include churches and other religious organizations, community and civic organizations, and social clubs.

Accounts in the names of sole proprietorships (for example, “DBA accounts”) are not insured in this category. Rather, they are added to the owner’s other single accounts, if any, at the same insured bank and the total is insured up to $100,000. (See Single Accounts section.)
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Government Accounts

Government accounts are also known as public unit accounts. This category includes deposit accounts of:

The United States

Any state, county, municipality (or a political subdivision of any state, county, or municipality), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other government possessions and territories
An Indian tribe
Insurance coverage of a public unit account differs from a corporation, partnership and unincorporated association account in that the coverage extends to the official custodian of the deposits belonging to the public unit rather than the public unit itself.

Each official custodian of time and savings deposits (including interest-bearing NOW accounts) of a public unit is insured up to $100,000.

Additionally, demand deposits in an insured bank located in the same state as the public unit are separately insured up to $100,000. Thus the same official custodian may receive up to $200,000 in insurance coverage – $100,000 in time and savings deposits and $100,000 in demand deposits – provided the deposits are held in an insured bank located in the same state as the public unit.

Demand deposits maintained by an official custodian of the United States will be insured separately from any time deposits maintained by the same custodian at the same insured bank, regardless of the state in which the insured bank is located.

Public unit deposits maintained in any out-of-state bank – whether time, savings or demand deposits – are limited to a maximum of $100,000 in coverage per official custodian.
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