Make Your Campaigns More Presidential

As voters went to the polls on election day, Seth Godin decided to outline what we can learn from a presidential campaign that took marketing sophistication to entirely new levels. His first key takeaway: Narratives resonate with customers. "[L]ike most marketers, you're obsessed with [features]" says Godin. "Forget it. The story is what people respond to."

Here are some other highlights from his discussion:

You must have permission. "In this election cycle," says Godin, "smart marketers at the Obama campaign toned down the spam and turned up the permission. They worked relentlessly to build a list, and they took care of the list."

Marketing is tribal. Both candidates knew their traditional "bases" would not be enough to win, and so each took on the daunting task of creating a new tribe with a coalition of disparate constituents.

Attack ads might not work. Because Obama's tribe identified so strongly with the president-elect, they regarded an attack on him as an attack on themselves. "They took it personally," he notes, "and their outrage led to more donations and bigger turnout." Godin compares this to the reaction an Apple loyalist might have. "Attacking an Apple product is like attacking an Apple user."

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