The 5 Marketing Lessons from Trump's win.


Now that the dust is settling and the data is pretty much in place, its time to ponder over Donald Trump's 'unexpected' win. Note, almost all polls gave him the slimmest of chances at the Presidency. While Trump's win slams the nail into the Pollster's coffin, it also opens up for lessons to be learnt about how the man got it right at the ballot boxes. These insights are ones that marketers and businesses too can learn from.

Here are the 5 MARKETING LESSONS from Trump's win.

1. A bigger budget is no guarantee to a winning brand - Sure, Hillary had the BIGGER budget, but did that matter? Did all those Ad spends make a difference? Apparently not. Shouting louder and as many times doesn't mean the listener is buying in. In fact, listeners/consumers don't trust paid media content anymore, especially in an era where non-paid and social media sources garner greater attention, and carry higher credibility.

2. Short focused messages 'trump' broad convoluted ones - Hillary said so many things so many times no one knew what she stood for. Trump in contrast stayed limited and focused. Pretty much everyone, including his haters knew what he stood for and what he was promising. Marketers too must keep their message 'limited' and 'focused'. That way they enable consumer brains to take in content quicker and keep it intact in memory over time.

3. Remarkable content catches attention and gets free media time - Remarkable content is 'stuff worth making a remark about'. Its not for no reason Donald Trump got $2 billion worth of  'free' media time. Truth is, the liberal media weren't fawning over him, and instead were painting him as the monstrous villain, However it's only because Trump ensured his remarks and behavior caught media and voter attention that his message was carried by media channels over and over again. Of course, they carried his message unwittingly, not realizing his brand was getting cemented firmly into voter considerations.

4. Targeting ensures everything else gets designed right - Donald Trump knew who he was going after with his message, and so everything he and his team did was focused on reaching out to them.  Donald Trump didn't give a hoot to what his non-target set of citizens thought about him. He didn't care because he wasn't after their vote. Now that's a valuable lesson in marketing. Always figure who your target consumer segment is and then tailor-make a value proposition that appeals to them. It matters nothing what the rest of the consumer world thinks or does.

5. A 'call to action' is what prompts subsequent behavior - Donald Trump was clear in what he wanted from his followers. They had to get to the polls and pilot him to the White House so he could 'drain the swamp'. His target audience did just that. They went out to vote so Donald could do what he promised in his term as President. In contrast citizens who were to vote for Hillary stayed put. Great brands are those that call consumers to act. They back up the need to act with convincing reasons that consumers buy into. In the end remember its about what consumers do at the point of purchase that matters. Your brand is worth nothing if consumers don't buy.

Donald's win will remain relevant in the business of voting as it will in the arena of business and marketing. Smart marketers will be those who take a leaf out of Donald's book and use it in getting their consumers to buy into their brands. 

Comments

Mrinmoy's Blog said…
Succinct summation,Sir. His victory also probably establishes the validity of 'The Big Shift' theory of recent times by Brown and Davison. Contributing and exploiting the 'Flows' in a focused way undoubtedly helps in leapfrogging way ahead of competition.

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