A politician is a marketer who is constantly trying to sell himself, and a marketer is usually a well-versed scholar in his Inbound Marketing concepts. If you’re thinking what is common between an inbound marketer and a presidential candidate, well there are many similarities. They’re both cold, calculating and both will do anything to get what they want.
But the most important similarity is in their ideology and their practice of producing incentives to attract their respective target audience. For an inbound marketing practitioner that incentive would be content, while for a politician it may be promising.
It’s more relevant than ever
Now when we’re faced with an election, where one of the candidates is a pathological liar who wants to build a wall between nations and another is an Ex-Secretary of State who used private email account while holding the office in addition to taking money from wall street, you have to appreciate the amount of marketing done to bring them where they are. Campaigns are run on every possible channel to attract their target audience and there is a lot you can learn from them.
Elements of Inbound Marketing used by Candidates
1. Persona Building by Trump
I would never recommend you to emulate any of Donald Trump’s actions but to be fair, the guy did receive the Republican nomination. He did this by identifying his ideal audience or ideal persona. Think for a sec you would never see Trump marching in a college rally or speaking in front of a feminist convention. You would however see him at an NRA convention riling up the crowd. Knowing your potential clients will help you decide how to attract them.
2. Inbound Lead Generation by Obama
If anyone had been able to extract the full potential of digital marketing, it was President Obama. Much of his success is attributed to ‘the dashboard’ – an online platform which allowed supporters to sign up to become volunteers. This wasn’t just a simple sign up app, it allowed supporters to connect with other supporters as well.
3.Lead Nurturing by Sanders
Bernie Sanders was unknown to many before the first democratic debate happened. But his bold ideas and genuine appearance attracted young people from all over the nation. Bernie knew his target demographic and turned them from an uninterested audience to loyal supporters. He utilized every possible channel to reach to his potential supporters which included youtube interviews, visiting college campus – that one time when he gate-crashed a high school prom.
4. Use of Social Media by Clinton
Now Hillary Clinton did have some problems with technology but that is a past story since she is blazing the social channels lately. This includes using the hashtag #yas, attacking Bernie and trolling Trump. A person spends a majority of his time on social media and it would be a shame if this opportunity is not utilized.
These are just a few of the lessons one could learn from the political campaigns of these future leaders. Inbound Marketing reaches its apex during elections as products are replaced by a potential leader of the free world.
