Most expensive marketing campaign in history offers lessons for small businesses

In November 1989 I thought I was going through one of the decisive moments of history. I was in Berlin the night the Berlin Wall and memories of that night will be with me forever. Like the Berlin Wall down when JFK was assassinated, or when Princess Diana died, everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news.

History was made again yesterday. It 'came at the end of what must be the most expensive marketing campaign the world has ever seen and led to the election of Barack Obama as president-elect of the United States. The campaign lasted eighteen months and if we examine it we can learn a lot about marketing, not just an election, but also how to market your product or service.

Which leads to this event over $ 1500million was spent by those who are fighting for, what is probably the most powerful job on the planet.

It ended with two 'products' with substantially different characteristics and advantages ... two potential presidents and two vice presidents potential ..... and despite all the money spent will remember only a few sound bites few photographs and writings.

For me the photographs of Sarah Palin with a gun has delivered a powerful message. If you are part of the gun lobby and the image was positive, but if they are anti-gun this is the image that the Republicans lost your vote.

The photographs are powerful and are a bit 'as a first impression - create a strong emotion that it takes a lot to dispel.

So what's the lesson here? Be very careful of the images used in your literature, your website and elsewhere. For part of my career have been attached to the Cabinet Office in London. One of my fears I had for the ministers have been in contact with it was that it would be like JFK was assassinated ... was that they would be photographed.

Guess what, 'this is what politicians do all the time. They posed for photographers. Political essays, however, avoid some photos "Opportunities". No politician, not even a minister of agriculture, wants to be photographed with a pig! Pictures like this have a habit of appearing again years later, when a scandal and beers such titles as "snouts in the tank", "and pigs might fly" etc. will surely follow.

So the lesson is to think carefully about the images used. Look not only to content in their existing context, but as unscrupulous people could twist them in the future.

What about Direct Mail?

Over the years the Republican Party has built a reputation as a skillful tactics of direct mail. Used them to raise money far more efficiently than the Democrats. This time the tables turned on. The Democrats have worked to build a mailing list based on authorization - just as I often suggest is done with autoresponders on your website. They traced opened their e-mail, when they did, and, above all, who responded with donations. And the list milked for all it was worth.

Barack Obama had another challenge. He knew that the traditional Democratic voters would not be enough to get him elected (did not John Kerry). So he went in search of new voters (ie customers) and include not only blacks voters, but also young people, those who had never recorded before, war veterans and many others. Finding new customers is always a time consuming, costly and often risky exercise. But he had a lot of money rolling in from his e-mail campaigns.

He has also managed to involve Word of Mouth. For example, a local barber, North Carolina, continued to tell his customers that the time for change has come, and must vote for Obama. Every time I come in to vote badgered him and made sure that those who are not registered, but I registered and voted for the first time in their lives. This story has been repeated over and over again in every state of being almost "underground" Republicans did not know about until it was too late.

Obama acknowledged his weakness as his relative inexperience of a politician than McCain. Then he called Joe Biden of Delaware. Biden is one of the longest serving members of the Senate of the United States, and balanced Obama's weakness.

On the other hand McCain chose Sarah Palin. His logic was to embrace the Bush supporter. He was hoping for a side effect, which was to attract supporters of Hillary Clinton earlier and to build his electoral base.

If it had worked, was the master stroke that landed the presidency. He's done!

In the case of McCain, which failed miserably.

His decision cost him half the economically minded voters who then went to Obama.

The lesson for the rest of us is that the attempt to win new customers is risky. It can work, but clients must be sure the product and the voters did not like the McCain / Palin product.

McCain has been acclaimed as delivering head-to-head televised meetings with Obama, but to my mind Obama is a great orator and McCain could not match. People follow great speakers.

And Sarah Palin voters do not see a president in waiting, ready to wear clothes Presidents, if anything happened to him.

Of course in your company does not have to be a great orator. But it needs to be a great communicator, able to communicate the benefits of your product or service through your website, advertising, signage, etc. service customers and customers expect your company should continue to be sick or on vacation .

So ask your business run on autopilot when there are? Your sales continue to work? Do you have staff that things are going, or a website where you can continue to sell through a shopping cart and PayPal?

Yours may not be the kind of business, but the lesson is to communicate and serve customers without interruption at any time.

There was another feature of this election that afflicts politicians. When their backs are against the wall, who rejects the opposition. In these elections have made it through TV ads and interviews and is not good practice.

Because political campaigns are television turnout has fallen around the world. People have become disenchanted verbal attacks. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom questions have become an excuse for gutter tactics and the same has happened in American elections. It must be said that the turnout was better than previous recent elections, but voters did not like the Republican attacks on Obama.

The lesson is not to beat the opposition with marketing. Show the benefits of your product or service full of waste and leave your competitors in those with no benefit to sell.

This election was a great lesson in marketing and we can all learn a lot from it....