By Mark
I just finished reading “Game Change” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. It’s a great read for anyone interested in national politics. It’s also an intriguing read for those involved in marketing as the authors describe in great detail the well-crafted presidential marketing campaign executed by Barack Obama. Regardless of your political preferences, the Obama campaign will long be considered a case history on brand marketing. After all, politics, for the most part, is marketing. As a newcomer to the American stage, this unlikely candidate first defeated the well established Clinton machine, then went on to beat the well known, well respected war hero, John McCain.
Putting politics aside, marketers would do well to take a few pages out of Obama’s marketing playbook. Why? It’s classic marketing with a flourish. Here are a few of the keys to Obama’s election marketing success; each can be related to your own business.
Consistency in brand message and positioning
Key to Obama’s success was having a consistent message which relates back to brand positioning. Unlike some brands that change campaigns as often as changing socks, Obama remained consistent and true to his brand positioning and message. From the onset, brand Obama carved out a position that adversaries couldn’t really touch: change. Specifically, “change that we can believe in.” He was the first to grab this banner, and he was successful in using this message to differentiate his campaign. His competition, first Hillary Clinton, then John McCain, struggled to find a message with traction. Both tried the “experience” angle, and Clinton even tried to copy Obama with her “Countdown to Change” message before migrating to “Solutions for America.” McCain, too, struggled to find a message that his audience could relate to, moving from “maverick” to “experience” to finally “Country First”, which never seemed to connect with voting consumers. Both tried to focus their messages on “I can do change better than him” but “better” rarely works in marketing and this was no exception. Obama clearly pre-empted the change concept in consumers’ minds so his competitors could never take it away from him.
Harnessed the power of the Internet
Team Obama was pitch-perfect in understanding the keys to appealing to all of his audience segments, especially the younger market that is often unattached to political parties, and, at least prior to 2008, somewhat apathetic to elections. He knew how to reach this group on their terms via the Internet and social media.
The centerpiece for Obama’s Internet voice was his website, and his team left nothing untouched. Their strategy was to first build a massive “opt in” email list. Once captured, he was able to circumvent traditional (and expensive) media and communicate with his community directly. Almost 4 million supporters opted in. When you first landed on the Obama website, you were immediately asked to join his mailing list and they made it incredibly enticing to subscribe by providing specific reasons to sign up (does your website do that?). They also aggressively asked for donations on every page and kept the threshold affordable for all (e.g. only asking for $5). Once visitors contributed, they became engaged and involved, and served as the backbone of a grass roots army of volunteer workers and “brand ambassadors.”
Leveraged social media
Blogs are one of the best methods of communicating and building relationships with consumers and Obama used them very effectively to communicate with supporters on a daily basis, even providing a channel for supporters who prefer to only consume news through RSS feeds. He took advantage of their social media consumption employing every high traffic social networking site including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Eons, Myspace, YouTube, and Flickr. Not surprisingly, each of these accounts drove traffic to the main website for further engagement.
Messaging with mobile
Obama used mobile marketing to further his message distribution, and even introduced an app for Apple’s iPhone, the Countdown to Change calendar that ticked off seconds until Election Day. Perhaps, the “pièce de resistance” was his regular use of text messaging announcements prior to the news media having it. Social media also allowed him to almost instantaneously counter negative advertising by his opponents.
When a negative story broke on the news, his online community not only knew about it but had already heard Obama’s side of the story! It was “reputation management” at its finest.
Inviting tone and language
Obama’s communications were, for the most part, confident, consistent, professional, and reassuring without being slick or in-your-face. His Internet voice was always conversational – interacting like a human, not a brand – inviting two-way dialog. Team Obama also encouraged user-generated content, allowing people to feel like they were participating in the campaign process as well. Most importantly, the Obama staff was not afraid of potential negative comments, instead taking the opportunity for transparency and allowing users to share feelings and concerns. This allowed Obama to respond in a rational way to refute opposing arguments using reason and logic. It appears users appreciated that.
What you can do
Consider addressing your own marketing efforts like Obama’s team did. Here’s food for thought:
- Evaluate your brand message and positioning. Is it relevant? Is it ownable? Does it really differentiate your brand?
- Are you consistent in your messaging? Have you avoided switching a campaign theme just because you’re personally tired of it?
- How well do you know your target audience? Are you reaching them in the right voice and in the right venues? What are their media habits?
- What are you doing to turn passive website visitors into avid supporters and fans of your brand? Are you providing tangible reasons for consumers to return to your website on a continuous basis?
In reviewing Obama’s 2008 presidential marketing efforts, he not only brilliantly executed the basics of marketing, but took advantage of new media technology to efficiently and economically build his brand. How does your marketing campaign compare?
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Tags: "Game Change", 2008 Election, Branding, marketing, Mobile, Obama, tone
About the Author
Mark no longer works for O'Neill Communications and we wish him the best in his new endeavors!
