This week I am inspired to write my first blog post on the US presidential election and how the Obama and Romney campaigns are using some best practices of marketing to try to win the election and woo voters. 

This post will first look at the recent President debates. The debate is one of the most anticipated parts of any campaign. The purpose of the debate is to sway voters, particularly those that are undecided, not only to vote (voter apathy was at 43% in 2008) but also vote to for the candidate in question.

Overall, the debate demonstrates a couple lessons in marketing.

Lesson 1: Earned, owned and paid media

The debate is the ultimate ‘earned media’ event over the course of the campaign.  “Winning” the debate can mean a significant boost in the polls, which means candidates are more likely to win the election and can also help the campaign focus their resources. These resources are either in the form of paid advertising or volunteers knocking on doors. These precious resources are the most critical asset of any campaign – where they target their paid advertising dollars and volunteers can mean the difference between winning and losing the election.  This really reinforces the relationship between paid, owned and earned media and demonstrates how increasing earned media can reduce the need for resource allocation to paid media.

Lesson 2: Debate`s key messages

Romney and Obama’s debate strategies can be analyzed using traditional marketing plans.

Objective: Both candidates had the same objective, to sway undecided voters in targeted states to vote for them and not to lose any of their existing bases.

Identify their target market: Both candidates seem to be targeting a similar target audience – the undecided middle-class female voter. Obama’s platform is called “A Plan for Jobs and Middle-Class Security.  https://secure.assets.bostatic.com/pdfs/Jobs_Plan_Booklet.pdf

Romney’s platform is called “Mitt Romney’s Plan for a Stronger Middle Class”  http://www.mittromney.com/jobsplan

Develop your message: Obama’s key campaign message focused on the #webuiltthis. He has focused on his record as being strong on foreign policy, Obamacare and managing the economy under the circumstances. Romney’s key campaign message focused on positioning himself as fiscally responsible but socially moderate candidate who hopes to use his experience in the private and public sector (working for Bain, saving the Salt Lake City Olympics and serving as Governor for Massachusetts).

Sell your message: 

• Keep it simple – James Carville coined Bill Clinton’s 1992 strategy “it’s the economy, stupid”. Carville has continued to reinforce the need in political campaigns to keep your message simple and clearly communicate it.
• Use stories to convey your idea: Facts don’t persuade voters, but stories can.  That is because stories follow a universal structure and can evoke strong imagery.
• Use dichotomies to distinguish yourself from your opponent: Obama’s campaign has tried to position his plan as moving the country forward – not backwards, which is how his campaign has characterized Romney’s plan.

Lesson 3: Understand the medium

This was the first presidential debate with a mature facebook and twitter platform. The first president debate was the most tweeted event in history with more than 10.3 million tweets during the 90 minute debate.

What struck me about this year’s debate is that candidates are not only fighting for the five second news highlight but also to dominate the chatter in the twitter-sphere.  If you ask most individuals what they remember about the debate, most will say – big bird, binders and bayonets.

The presence of social media has disrupted the debate. Whereas traditional debates used to be structured as follow:

• Traditional: Live debate watched on TV — at the end of the debate commentators would analyze the results — the newspaper would report on the debate the following day.
• Contemporary: Debate watched on TV or streamed online — viewers are able to post comments on social media or directly to media sources — at the end of the debate commentators analyze the results and provide instantaneous insights from viewers — media outlets report on the debate immediately following the debate and post online.