-
(DISCLAIMER: Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way right now…
This blog post is intended to examine the successful marketing aspects of each campaign and what we can take away as marketers and entrepreneurs. It is in NO WAY intended to endorse one candidate over the other.
Last time I mentioned a candidate there were some inflammatory comments posted and subsequently removed. We will follow the same format with this post.
So let’s keep everything in perspective here. Cool?)
Hey, we got us a new president!
Now maybe my phone will finally stop ringing 72 times a day with a recorded message from some guy running for the Assistant County Clerk’s office.
You too, huh? ;)
Anyway, the campaigns fascinated me to no end. Never before have we seen two candidates generate such a passionate response.
But let’s face it–an election is really no more than a marketing campaign. You’re basically trying to sell people on your product over another, right?
Well, one campaign did it BRILLIANTLY. Guess which one it was?
You got it–the winning one.
Now, we can argue until we’re blue in the face why Obama won over McCain last week…
Things like making cultural history…the sliding popularity of the previous Republican administration…a younger, hipper candidate who seemed to relate better…McCain’s controversial choice of Sara Palin as a running mate…they all hold water in this debate.
But I’ll tell you the BIGGEST reason why Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the Untied States on January 20, 2009.
And it can be summed up in 2 words–social marketing.
Obama campaigned to the social marketing crowd perfectly, generating a HUGE amount of support from a variety of online resources
Just check out these amazing statistics from Trendrr…
–Since the conventions, blog posts mentioning Obama outnumbered those referencing McCain by more than 3 to 1.
–Obama’s number of MySpace friends grew steadily over the past few months while McCain’s remained relatively flat. By election day, Obama had almost 4 times the number of friends McCain had
–While those MySpace figures are remarkable, the Twitter stats are even more eye-popping. Obama had nearly TWENTY FOUR times the amount of followers that McCain had.
UNBELIEVABLE!
And it doesn’t end there. I found similar numbers for FaceBook and YouTube usage as well, with Obama clearly outpacing McCain.
Obama’s tactic was a masterpiece–targeting the younger, more technically literate crowd (many who had never voted or even bothered to register) and hit them right where they live–on social networking landscape.
The subsequent result was a MASSIVE following that grew larger and larger by the day. And those same people made a huge impact at the polls.
So what does this all mean?
Simple–like I said a year ago in the Attention Age Doctrine 2, social marketing is now a factor that cannot (and must not) be ignored.
When the American political climate can be shifted by a blog, a forum, or a social networking site, then you have an 800 pound gorilla staring you right in the face.
And it’s HUNGRY.
Obama worked this element with a surgeon’s precision, generating a buzz very early on and feeding the frenzy until it grew to mammoth proportions.
But do you think Obama merely pulled a few net-savvy supporters together and said, “Go talk about me on those internet site thingys”?
Nope–he had a PLAN. A carefully conceived, painstakingly constructed plan. And it worked to perfection.
And that, my entrepreneurial friends, is what I want you to take away from this election…
No matter what it is in your business–be it traffic generation or product creation or copywriting–you need a solid, proven-to-work plan for getting from point A to point B.
Without it, you’re basically flying by the seat of your pants. And although there have been a few rare instances where this was successful, 99.9% of the time you end up crashing and burning.
So where do you get these “plans” exactly?
Click Here To Claim Your First FREE Month Of Cashmaps
With my CashMaps, you’ll have an entire series of step by step process maps that deliver big results–FAST.
Each CashMap highlights a different piece of the online business puzzle, with every step laid out in an easy-to read-fashion anyone can understand.
And these aren’t just pie in the sky ideas here. They’re the very same process maps I’ve been using for years to build Strategic Profits.
So they’ve been tested, re-tested and then re-tested again to achieve maximum impact with minimal effort.
Isn’t that what you’ve been looking for to make things easier?
Click Here To Claim Your First FREE Month Of Cashmaps
Right now, I’ve opened the CashMaps program again for a limited time…
In fact, you can get your first one right now for FREE (just pay for shipping and handling). I’ll even throw in some sweet bonuses worth hundreds of dollars just for checking it out.
And if you don’t like it, you can keep the bonuses with my compliments.
Talk about a risk-free deal…
Click Here To Claim Your First FREE Month Of Cashmaps
Next year, we’ll not only have a brand new president. You could also have a successful new business thanks to CashMaps.
Ready to get started?
Click Here To Claim Your First FREE Month Of Cashmaps
See you inside…
To Higher Profits,
Rich
P.S. Okay, I know many of you are chomping at the bit to add your comments below. So please go ahead and do that now.
But remember–no nastiness. Let’s stick to the marketing aspects of both campaigns and stay away from the volatile stuff.
Agreed?
-
- Save / Promote This Post
- If you enjoyed this post, your vote is always highly appreciated!!
-
169 Comments to “The Biggest Reason Why Barack Obama Won The Election”
Trackbacks
- Social Engineering Vs Social Networking…the Same? | Your Guide Book to Internet Marketing
- spiritniche.com » Blog Archive » My Comment on “The Biggest Reason Why Barack Obama Won The Election”
- The REAL Reason Obama Won…
- Aweber and Twitter Head on Collission » Jeff Wellman’s Layoff Your Boss Marketing
- Barack Obama - social networker extraordinaire | magicalinternetmarketing.com
- obama, communicator | The Blog of Kevin Thompson
- The REAL Reason Obama Won… : iDeborah
-
Link to this post: If you found this page useful, consider linking to The Biggest Reason Why Barack Obama Won The Election ...
-
Just ONE Simple Shift...
ONE Obstacle Overcome...Can Bring You The BIG Results You Want From Your Online Business
Rich Schefren reveals the SIMPLE answer in his newest report...
The Uncertainty Syndrome: The Entrepreneurial Emergency
There Is No Reason Why You Can't Have The Success Gurus Have, By Dealing With The Same Simple Factor...Get it Now!
-
Internet Marketing Reports & Resources
-
Ask Rich
-
Bookmark Us
-
-
Internet Marketing Categories
- Internet Marketing Blog (127)
- Contests (1)
- Customer Value (2)
- Effectiveness (42)
- Online Entrepreneur (5)
- Internet Marketing (25)
- Make Money Online (3)
- Market Attention (9)
- Internet Marketing News (33)
- persuasion techniques (1)
- Quotes (2)
- Business Strategy (15)
- Taking action (8)
- Internet Marketing Tools (7)
-
Internet Marketing Archives
-
Popular Tags
constraints business owners guru marketing strategies Brad Fallon Business overcoming constraints business acceleration program online business strategic profits profits momentum internet marketers entrepreneur frank kern marketing community maven youtube business acceleration internet business business building jay abraham Rich Schefren entrepreneurs coaching program founders club business founder home study email founder challenges internet marketing Gary Vaynerchuk john carlton business growth money online marketing jeff walker manifesto mike filsaime Blog marketers internet wealth marketing Tony Robbins -
Contests
- 66 Seconds Video Contest (
enter)
- 66 Seconds Video Contest (
-
Community
-
Internet Marketing Products
-
Internet Marketing Tools
-
Internet Marketing Resources
-
Links
Obama and his team did everything right.
Their website, their marketing, their connection with people, their inspiring messages (whether you agreed with them or not) is an amazing model to study.
From a social marketing standpoint, I saw YouTube videos by people of many different races encouraging people to support Obama. One of my favorites was a Latino one = “even my Republican mama / is going to cast her vote for Obama”. This video support was almost like a contest to see who could be the most creative (which I’ve seen Rich and other Internet Marketers and business people do).
From a “Maven Marketing” standpoint, Obama appeared to be the Industry Expert, remaining cool, calm, and collected while John McCain got flustered and contradicted himself.
Obama positioned himself to win.
This campaign will be one to study for years to come.
Dr. Andrew Colyer
“Obama and his team did everything right”
For whom and for what?
Hitler won, Stalin won, Mao won, Mugabe won, Amin won, Marcos won and the list goes on. What America needed was a strong man who is a pragmatist and dead straight. You had that with a winning duo of McCain and Giuliani as Sec of State. You threw it away by allowing Jimmy Carter back in.
Style over substance. And the young were duped.
This will backfire. McCain was on the ‘BackFoot’ throughout the campaign and allowed himself the indulgence of negative marketing but his Acceptance of Loss speech showed him to be who he really is. Obama’s first mistake was to shove Adinajad’s calculated and cynical words of welcome back in his face. Lack of judgement and acting tough for the sake of hawkish watchers. Not good. America needs John Wayne. Slow to anger. Quick to action despite his bulk. Not a cowboy however.
America missed an opportunity by getting everything right. God bless America. You are going to need it.
when will you guys understand – the difference isn’t in the marketing, it is in the product. If you have nothing to sell, you will only sell to the poor and gullible
You cannot make millions selling air, especially if its stale
Tell that to the guys who sell bottled water
Hi Liz,
That couldn’t be further from the truth, especially online.
When you buy something online you are selling it before the customer receives it.
Although I sell excellent quality info products, the marketing is what attracts people to buy my products in mass.
Creating high quality products (is very very easy), you cant build a better mouse trap and expect the world to come running to buy it, you need to market how good it is, to the right people.
Barack marketed himself (the product) much better than the competing product.
Thats why he won
Jason
I disagree Liz. The difference is in the marketing and there are quite a few people making millions on the internet everyday, selling absolute rubbish.
In addition, you can have the best product in the world, but if you can’t get the marketing right, it isn’t going to help.
While I would allow that there were many other relevant factors involved, I agree that the Obama campaign’s marketing was first class.
Obama’s team did a great job and ran a well-disciplined campaign.
There are plenty of people plunking their change into those machines at the corner stores and stations for stale air. It becomes a matter of marketing and placing before the masses what they believe they need. That litle sign I’ve seen at some machines that reads; “Have you checked your tires today?” certainly bring in the results.
You got half of it right, Liz. You can have the best product in the world but if you can’t market it you won’t even sell it to the poor and the gullible.
Liz, it would be nice if that were true. But 30 years in the residential water treatment industry (water softeners and purifiers) has proven to me EXACTLY what this article says.
In my industry it is commonly the slickest, and sadly the most dishonest (willing to say ANYTHING, true or not, to make a sale) that succeed. It’s almost always the marketing geniuses, not the craftsmen that sell far more product.
AND, believe it or not (30 yrs says it’s so) it has LITTLE to do with the quality of the product. The most productive marketers in my industry have an AVERAGE quality product and sell it for typically 2-3 TIMES the price of my larger capacity, superior quality product.
Have you heard of the salesman that can sell “ice cubes to Eskimos” ? Yeah, the expression has strong basis in reality.
A skilled marketer can sell something useless while superior craftsmen and products to go unrecognized due to lousy marketing.
That is more the norm than the exception anymore.
So, CRAFTSMEN, get- or hire some marketing skills so you can survive. We NEED craftsmen to survive.
Hi Tim and all,
I agree with you, Tim. Whether one agrees or disagrees that Obama is a great product, great marketing sold him.
The under-35 crowd, which typically shows poorly at the polls, turned out in droves this election. Why? One candidate reached them effectively and made the sale, and one candidate did not. End of story.
The lesson we take away from all this as marketers is simply this: no longer do the traditional means of advertising reach the markets we want to reach. We need to go where our prospects spend their time and reach them there. We need to understand who these people are, what’s important to them, what keeps them up at night, what they’d sell their kidneys to get. Then give it to them.
True craftsmen offering real value can sell to large numbers of people, but first they have to know what their target market *really* wants. Knowing that, they can grab their prospects’ attention with an appeal to that desire, *then* show them what else they gain by buying well-crafted products.
If you don’t reach your prospects where they are now and offer them what they want, they’ll never give your product so much as a glance–if they even learn about it at all.
Take care! Thanks for offering this forum, Rich!
~Grey Rider
Hello,
You are wrong to the 10th power. A product cannot sell itself ..it must be marketed then sold… as far as if you have nothing to sell “only the poor and gullible will buy it”
(nothing from nothing leaves nothing)therefore if you have nothing it won’t sell.. the poor still have to buy something..
a product service or idea.
Rich is simply stating social marketing techniques work and you however, clearly want to relish in deceptive cloaking of political favorability.
NO politics …. SOCIAL MARKETING IT WORKS
PRODUCTS IDEAS OR SERVICES
Liz —
Don’t let those replies get to you. Of course the marketing helped Obama win; but you are correct, the product was the best!
Marketing overcame racial prejudice and the horribly ugly hostile attacks from the McCain camp implying very destructive things.
But the truth of the matter is that few of us in the voting public, myself included, have time for social networking and I never saw a single blog! It was Obama’s masterful presence and genuine effort at a really positve and truthful campaign that made the difference!
Well…. since about 90% of the US is gullible – “no substance” might be a great strategy
SORRY!
But the truth is you can sell air and make a huge profit doing it. examples are Souvenirs like: canned Berlin air, Australian outback air in a can, Canned air of Armenia, Fresh Florida sunshine air in a can, and the list goes on and on….The fact is if you take two pieces of wood and put them together in a way nobody else has ever done, some schmuck will buy it……NOW add internet exposure and some one million schmucks will buy it….THAT’s called marketing! There are basically two types of internet marketing.
1st Passive, Or “Hope” marketing is when you set up a web page and hope somebody finds it and buys your product.
2nd Aggressive, or “social” marketing where you shout out to the world (in the words of Frank K.) HEY! HEY! yeah you! mother f#*@$%r come here! check this out! this is really cool, BUY IT! flickr, twitter, and youtube do this in a great way along with face book, my space, and countless other “social” web sites.
Product accounts for less than 1% of a sale in many cases. It is all in the presentation!!! which would you be more inclined to purchase? All natural organic fertilizer or dog poop?
Actually, the equivalent of “air” has indeed been sold, by good marketing. Look at Pet Rocks, Chia pets and other dubious products of that ilk.
Today, IBM compatible computers dominate the computer scene, while Apples, despite their very loyal following, weigh in at second place. An Apple computer is anything but a second-rate computer, and yet, it does not dominate the computer market. This is because of extensive marketing on the part of the IBM brand.
Even now, IBM-type computers are struggling to do what APPLES have done for years in the area of videos, audio, graphics and ease of use.
So, never underestimate the value and power of marketing. In our society marketing is king, and has crowned many strange products, while other, “Quality” product go begging.
Harriet
Rich,
I think you have nailed the marketing aspects of President-Elect Obama’s victory… Marketing, excellent marketing. To use Dan Kennedy’s teachings, it was a brilliant and a perfect Message to Market Match of the “top of intended audience minds’ concerns, using multiple simultaneous media delivery. His campaign managers should be complimented in earnest by all marketers regardless of political leanings.
I sincerely desire that you will not be “flamed” for your post, as well as that all Americans, including those that did not support our President-Elect in the campaign, now rally behind our new President and willingly give him our support. He has willingly taken on a daunting assignment and has earned our collective support.
Thanks for the insight into the lesson of real life marketing that has changed the landscape historically for us all.
Rich,
Obama was behind until a few months ago, despite his superior social marketing.
Its an indelable trend in political marketing that ruling parties mostly lose elections during recessions. Obama’s recent rise follows closely the timetable of the financial crisis coming to a terrible head. New Zealand’s government fell last weekend – it’s been in recession most of the year too. Others around the world have fallen, and more will do so.
If it comes down to a test, you can take a nation’s ruling party and teach them social marketing. I’ll be happy to help the wannabes who have a recession on their side. You might get up, but I’ll bet you’ll have to work a whole lot harder and smarter than me to achioeve it.
Both McCain and Obama are quality leaders – let’s hope Obama uses his lack of experience in government as well as Lincoln did.
Best
Geoff Kelly
You are correct that the economy played a much bigger role than social media. The latter is quite trivial in comparison.
However, it is a big stretch to call both men “quality leaders” when Obama has yet to prove himself, and McCain ran a hamfisted and unfocused campaign.
And to credit Lincoln with using inexperience well is an example of how marketing shapes our outlook on an even wider scale. An unbiased observer would have to rank Lincoln as one of the most disastrous presidents in our history. He pushed the country into a civil war when he had every opportunity to avoid it.
It is a sad fact of human nature that we praise most the leaders who involve us in wars and ignore the “boring” ones who preside over periods of peace and quiet.
Earl,
McCain’s people effectively lost it in the latter stages of the campaign. But I rate McCain as quality based on his ability to get others to support his often contrarian ideas over the long term. And many of those ideas have made the US and the world a better place. I suggest also that you read “Faith of my Fathers” for an insight into the experiences that developed his character.
Obama has demonstrated great character in doing what virtually every “expert” said would be impossible. And he had to get up every morning believing it and making it happen in daily progress against this force of naysayers and doubters. He looks the goods to me, but you are right that time will tell.
Lincoln was controversial. Would the Civil War have happened without him? I think so – you seem to think not. However, he stood and acted for ideals that many of us respect when the stakes were high. And he succeeded in shaping the US in ways that last to this day. All from a guy that most contemporaries wrote off as clever, but would never amount to much.
We can learn much from all three.
Best
Geoff
Sorry Geoff but the recession only played a small part of it, just as the Iraq war did …. all the recession did was help people that were already inclined to vote for Obama or were undecided to make up their minds to go with Obama. That election was won purely because of better strategies from the Obama campaign, in particular the marketing aspect of it … it wasnt just the online marketing, the television ads also brought him a lot of votes … imagine being bombarded with ads from someone who had an ernomous budget in your living room on a daily basis … its just like those emails from gurus promoting a product … I’ve fallen for those before … you try to ignore them at first but the rate at which they are coming at and the intriguing element of their sales letters and not the product itself, will get you sooner or later … what I’m really saying is no one really knew what Obama was about but he was marketed as if he were a movie star and that is what captured the hearts of the many young and elder women … McCain just made it easier for him by not responding intelligent to the economic predicament America found itself in … but I believe even without the recession Obama would still won it and I have the official voting figures to prove it … and ultimately, the many young voters who clinched this election for Obama are those myspace, youtube and facebook users … the same people who acted as volunteers for Obama’s campaign team going door to door … you really need to sit back and see how amazing this campaign was run … and then just applaud.
Clive,
McCain had many factors against him – the anti-Bush factor, Iraq War (I agree that this receded in relative electoral importance in the final stages), and Obama’s campaign budget (and better social marketing tactics).
However, the Game-changer looks to be the recession that the US appears to be already in. The polls and other public mood indicators seem to most closely match the rapid collapse of the financial markets. The contagion seems to have all the hallmarks of the main cause – walks like a duck, looks like a duck, probably is…
Sure, Obama might have won anyway. But I wouldn’t over-rate the role of social marketing. Radio, TV, facsimiles machines, the internet all have shaped political (and business) styles of promotion. But the fundamentals that govern success for leaders and for corporations have not changed. To go all ga-ga about social marketing as some magic bullet just gives the rest of us an unfair advantage over the mob that believes this stuff.
Best
Geoff
I agree that the networks and social marketing aspects were huge; however, an even bigger reason why folks were motivated to take action and use these networks is this:
Barack Obama had a HUNGRIER MARKET for what he had to offer than John McCain did.
His campaign knew that most Americans didn’t like the current President or the way things were going in our country.
So they tapped into the theme of “CHANGE,” and his campaign didn’t really need to give more reasons than that to vote for Barack Obama.
Besides having a mediocre candidate, McCain’s strategists put out terrible messages that were cute, clever, or just didn’t give a good reason why they should vote for him.
Phrases like “Country First,” “Maverick,” “Joe Sixpack” and of course, “Joe the Plumber” weren’t that effective, and I thought were pretty stupid. Not to mention all the direct mail pieces that had to do with rogue foreign leaders, and terrorism.
Think about it: When most Americans have seen their portfolios whacked by 1/3 in a matter of months – not to mention their retirement dreams crushed (or at least postponed) – almost nobody really gives a rip about the 1-in-a-million threat of a terorrist attack!
Anyone with any marketing ability in their pinkie finger should work with a political candidate in 2010 to help them craft decent messages.
Well said! I agree with you
“Barack Obama had a HUNGRIER MARKET …”
True, Brian, but let’s remember that Obama was not the marketer, he was the product. Years had been spent creating that perceived hunger in the market before the “product” was ever introduced.
Another example of a classic marketing campaign.
Gary,
Give it up. Obama was the product, true. However he was the leader of the marketing team, also. His message of change and hope for a better America was most appealing to the majority of the American people. I believe he would have won even without the economic downturn because there’s very few, if any, true Americans who wanted anything near what the Bush Administration has put out for the last 8 years. So, I welcome a President who has a message for all the people of America, not just the elistist! And, one who tells it like it is win or lose.
While Obama may have done social marketing right, there is little evidence it had a real effect. What is most remarkable about the difference in the campaigns, and the factor most reliably that wins elections – is money. Obama and supporters spent about $650 million compared to McCain’s less than $150 million. As a result of the money difference – Obama flooded the media with ads.
The only surprise is that it was not more of a blow-out than it was.
You don’t win with just spending more on ads. That’s trying to cover the sun with one finger.
Younger and new voters identify with the Dems/Obama at a 2 to 1 rate. Minorities almost the same.
Add to that a VERY effective use of technology as Rick pointed out and it’s game, set, and match.
364 to 163 EVs and 53% to 46% IS a ROUT.
Steve While all of the comments may have been factors YOU sir have hit the nail on the head. Obama bought the U.S. Presidency pure and simple! Close to a Billion $ from average Joe America PUHLEEEEZE!!! I would love to know really where all this money came from. When you can afford to buy a TV channel 24/7 for the 4 weeks prior to election there has got to be something wrong and the the 3 major alphabet channels for 1/2 hour in prime time WHAT don’t tell me that $$$$$$$$$$$4 isn’t the main reason Mr. O’ won. Each pres candidate should be given an equal amount of dollars (with no campaign fundraising allowed (and held accountable for their expenditures) this would allow the public to see their budgeting expertise among other abilities. Just my humble opinion. God Bless America I am afraid we are going to need it.
Obama got all his money from this person “OPRAH” !
I agree with Steve, all of the factors played a role in Obama winning, but the deciding factor definitely was his budget of $650 million which enabled him to buy ads consistently in all the different media – presenting him as young and charismatic, which isn’t bad, but what about his inexperience? That wasn’t shown.
Why is it that when some one wins, the losers always blame the winner for winning and never themselves for losing.
McCain lost because he wasn’t any where near as good as the winner.
Which is also why he couldn’t get the money he needed to get his message out.
One of the main reasons Obama won was money. Whether he would have won if he had spent what McCain did is some thing you will never know.
It’s also why his marketing was so successful. It takes huge sums of money to do a marketing campaign of the scope he did.
One other thing. To say that the quality of the product doesn’t matter is ludicrous. There is a huge difference between the electronic crap that gets hyped in some ones sales letter than a living, breathing human being.
You have no way of knowing what the electronic crap is that you bought until you actually get it and see that you where ripped off.
You saw Obama for 2 years, every day in one form or another. You had plenty of time to analyze the product.
You could make an informed decision.
In this case the product was what won. The marketing was just a part of it.
Everybody, including the Justice Department , knows there is sufficient evidence to investigate the many reports of hundred’s of millions fraudulent dollar transfers to Obama election.
Only persistent unending demand from a large number of the public may cause investigation.
But we haven not even seen Obama’s authentic documentaion to satisfy article II, Section 1 of the Constitution,which requires that a candidate must be a natural born citizen of the United States. We know where Jesus was born but the voters have not been shown a certified official original Obama birth certificate.
So: establish one way or the other
1. we must know how Obama manage to get $600 million in amounts under $100
2. we must have conclusive proof of Omama qualifying for Article II, Section 1
3.we must also check reports that Obama was adoprted by his Indonesian stepfather and Obama’s obtaining Indonesian citizenship.
Senator McCain was born in Panama.
So you point is?
Mine is this.
This thread speaks of how one candidate used social marketing to his advantage. That’s all.
Your debate lies elsewhere.
Barack Obama and John McCain had both agreed to accept only campaign financing. Then Barack went back on his word, depending on McCain’s sense of honor to keep his word and get just the government money. Then Obama got millions of dollars from illegal prepaid credit card donations and regular credit card donations. The security protocols were disabled so that illegal doners could not be traced. Credit card doners would do well do check their credit reports for identity theft.
The Obama campaign even used social strategies when raising money. I remember one of the first emails I received after registering on his site was a request for a campaign donation that would be matched by another donor, and the choice of communicating with that donor if desired. I thought it very unique, though simple enough and enjoyed the follow-up that I had with my “matching donor.”
Then there were the live streaming campaign stops that I could watch if I wanted, notification received as a Twitter tweet.
A social campaign conducted with remarkable execution.
Barack Obama created a PERFECT STORM with his social media campaign.
Sadly, there’s a huge and bitter debate raging on http://www.Twitter.com regarding the Return On Investment (ROI) of Social Marketing.
The nay-sayers say it does not work.
I agree that it won’t work if used like old media. But used the RIGHT way it can be the making of a president – as we have seen.
No question.
Jonathan
That is a great example of why any business should be embracing social media.
I had no idea that twitter was being used by these guys going to go check it out.
Rich
I find it amazing how well Obama’s campaign went. I find it more amazing however how radically effective Ron Paul’s campaign was and yet he didn’t even place.
Ron Paul and the other candidates were hardly mentioned in the media, and nobody besides the top two were invited to any debates. If the candidates were given equal media attention, the results would have been interesting. Obama would probably still have won, but we would have got to hear some different views as least. You’d think people would want to see all the options before making such a momentous decision..
Yep, it must be social marketing. I’m sure it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that McCain was endorsed by both Bush and Cheney, during whose tenure the national debt was increased by over 5 trillion dollars and we experienced the worst monetary crisis since the Great Depression. Plus.. they made a pre-emptive strike on a country that was already bankrupted and brought to it’s knees by embargos, and which had no WMD’s (this was known before the attack). And lest we forget, our Constitution was stripped from us via the Patriot Act and a police state instituted. Not to mention the fact that Bush and Cheney were behind 9/11.. or at the very least knew it was coming down the pike.. and 85% of America knows, or at least believes it was an inside job. No.. I’m sure it was Social marketing. Had to be.. right?
John Michael Christian
Just to add to your comments John… I’m sure it was President Bush’s fault that both Jimmy Carter, AND then Bill Clinton in 1999 made Fannie and Freddie relax their qualifications for receiving mortgage loans to the mainly minority clients that applied for these loans… that caused the financial meltdown of the mortgage industry. Or that it was President Bush’s fault that the Democratically controlled Congress decided to take ownership of ALL of the bad paper written, instead of taking sound financial advice to simply “INSURE” those loans IN CASE SOME OF THEM GO BAD for only $50 Billion INSTEAD of a full $700 Billion.
If it rains tomorrow I’m sure it is Presidents Bush’s fault, the Republican party’s fault, and most certainly John McCain’s fault since he voted 90% of the time with the President (this is the same number for most of Congress due to the process of signing bills from Congress – the other 10% is most likely when the President vetoes what he is sent).
Ridiculous how the liberal media is who really runs this country, and a true statesman is hard (if not entirely absent) to find.
We can thank the Liberals for the downfall of America that is happening right now, and just like the liberals always do they blame the republicans for everything that has gone wrong when in fact its really all their fault.
Thank you Bill Clinton for not killing Obama’s cousin Osama Bin Laden and thank you for allowing people who have no money purchase homes that they can’t afford and thank you for allowing 9-11 to happen!
Also for all of you who voted for Obama be prepared to pay dearly for anything you make because he intends on taxing the sh*t out of you with his Socialistic ideas and now he has a congress to back up all those plans……communism here we come!!!
Yes we can thank the LIBERALS for ALL this!
A**HOLES!
Hi Rich,
Excellent post. Thank you for the fair review of both candidates social media strategies.
Here is a site by a David Bullock you may not have seen. It’s a look at how President-Elect Obama’s Social Media Strategies could help other businesses.
http://barack20.com/
One reason McCain lost is that he thought he knew what the customer wanted. He didn’t listen to what was happening.
For example, he refused to make the Obama’s relationship with the racist minister Jeremiah Wright an issue who was on record shouting “G## D### America!” He would not allow any ads on the topic.
Big mistake. That issue resonated big time among his supporters. It turns out that 20% of the Republican base stayed home. They would have shown up if that message had been driven home in a big way.
It’s important to provide what the customer wants.
And McCain let Obama repeatedly say the Bush and McCain were the same, even though McCain was a thorn in Bush’s side for eight years.
McCain failed to provide a USP, differentiating himself from the Bush connection.
Lastly…and this ties into the first reason…buyers are more likely to respond from fear of loss. McCain failed to paint a scary picture about what could happen if Obama got elected.
The best to you.
Kelley Eidem, author, The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
Together we can cure cancer – one person at a time!
“And McCain let Obama repeatedly say the Bush and McCain were the same, even though McCain was a thorn in Bush’s side for eight years.”
A thorn?
How?
He voted with him in nearly every case.
How do you mean McCain was a thorn?
cf
Well, Kelley, you may be able to cure cancer but you are out in left field about the Jeremiah Wright issue. The reason McCain did not want to mention it is because Sarah Palin’s Assembly of God minister makes Jeremiah Wright look like a choir boy. That’s the only smart thing the McCain campaign did.
I don’t think anyone could have written a more articulated post. When I saw your email with the headline, “The real reason Obama won”, I thought to myself sarcasticly, “this ought to be good”. To my amazement it was in deed good and I agree with you whole heartedly. Thanks for the awesome message.
Rich,
Thanks for creating this thought-provoking post by providing us with a real-life lesson on the effectiveness of social marketing. I tend to agree with Brian Ochsner that Obama won because he gave the “hunger market” what they wanted to buy. I wonder who actually came up with the strategy that made the Obama campaign so successful?
Who actually came up with this “strategy” that made the Obama campaign so successful you ask?!
It actually was a Republican who has the right ideas of proper and needed change… REAL CHANGE is what he called it… it was none other than former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
He was the first person to come out with the slogan, “REAL CHANGE”, wrote a book about it.. and had discussions with Republicans, Democrats and Independents through workshops hosted by his organization – American Solutions.
His attitude and mindset of returning America from a Red and Blue country, back into a Red-White and Blue country is inspiring. Obama NEVER gave clear and concise answers to what he meant as “change”. I fear what those “changes” may end up being.
For you information, consider this article that was recently published:
“Australian PM Kevin Rudd – “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant” and other weird warnings”
“Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.
These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States.
Biden told the top Democratic donors that a “generated crisis” will develop within six months and Barak Obama will need the help of community leaders to control the population as unpopular decisions are made and Americans resist.
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
—Daniel 7:23
Biden speaking at the fundraiser, “I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate, And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”
Biden’s ominous language at the Seattle Sheraton are followed with statements by long time establishment insiders Colin Powell and Madeline Albright both say there is a massive crisis on the horizon and Biden was simply making a “statement in fact.”
“The problems will always be there and there’s going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.” Powell told Meet the Press.
Lord West, adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on national security says, “There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of severe. The threat is huge. We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building – the complex plots are building,”
Across the channel from England you have the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warning the press that he believes Israel will strike Iran before they can develope nuclear weapons completley ignoring the fact that the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBradei, said that Iran lacks the key components to produce an atomic weapon.
“The devastation that could be wreaked by one major nuclear weapons incident alone puts 9/11 and almost everything else [in] to the category of the insignificant,” Rudd said.
Why are there so many high level politicians around the world in a seemingly coordinated effort warning of huge threats and developing crisis’ that may include a nuclear device? Are they preparing the masses for an event or series of events that have been in the making for some time? Is the public being prepared for new and forming enemies with a potential to plunge the entire world into war?
—-end quote—
A number of notable public figures, to be sure; Biden, Rudd, Colin Powell, Matelaine Albright, Lord West and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Taken alone there are plenty of ready explanations, but within 72hrs.?
Oh Please. That’s a little too far. Me, I’m a Ron Paul girl, and that man knew something about social networking and harnessing the power of the internet. And reason Dr Paul could do that was because people responded to him from their hearts and minds, ideals and logic. And I think the same is for Obama. He presented a better option and the internet was the perfect vehicle because it is a more transparent medium than television.
Funny, though, here in the sticks of Washington where I live there’s been a bunch of silly, wide-eyed conspiratorial talk about Obama and the ‘antichrist’. Hey, snap out of it! We are America. She is how we mold her. People who lie back and wait for the illuminati takeover are seriously missing the boat, and may I be so bold as to say, will never achieve the kind of success than those who would choose to be unflustered and carve their own fates. And as for this business above about the gathering of leaders for some impending crisis, that’s basically to silly to address. But I did enjoy the laugh.
Why do so many people who quote from the bible final chapter act like there is something that can be done to change it? If God say that it will happen, it will happen and that is all it is to it.
There’s a rumour going round over here in UK that Obama’s great catch-phrase came from the UK kid’s programme, Bob the builder. I gather it’s been showing in the US for a number of years – and Obama’s kids would probably have watched it.
From my perspective, we can argue all we like about the product and its relevance, but there’s no denying that Obama whipped the opposition in terms of using social networking. A great lesson to those of us who want to market something. I know I’m not yet using social marketing to its full potential. Watching Barack has taught me a thing or two. Never thought I could learn anything from a politician, but there you go!
Cheers
Jane
http://www.magicalinternetmarketing.com/blog
I agree with you to a point… The Obama campaign did a better job with social marketing than the McCain campaign for sure.
However, if it was just a question of who had the best social marketing, Ron Paul should have won by a landslide in the primaries and then swept the floor with the Obama campaign during the general election. I realize there were other factors at play here, but if you go back and look at the Google search terms as well as the blogosphere during the primaries, you will find that Ron Paul out “social marketed” all the other candidates combined. (He also raised massive amounts of money.)
Anyway, I’m curious to see if you have a comment on this but I’m certainly not arguing the point in the general election.
- HKH
Hey Rich. Wow not an easy tackle you just addressed. Tip toe through the tulips…Dang! and Bang! You are spot on! Social Marketing was huge in Obama’s campaign. It is clearly here to stay and should be used but man it certainly can be abused!
Using the best practices “always” is the only way to go! One slip and you’re a gonner.
Great stuff.
Keith
P.S. Looking forward to your next great calls
I’m impressed by the team that Obama used to lead his internet marketing campaigns. Their marketing execution was flawless and its no wonder he was able to raise so much money.
Down here in my country Kenya, some of us are still celebrating his win. The mood is still ecstatic and in his father’s birthplace in Kogelo village a bull was slaughtered to celebrate his win.
One day prior to the American Elections, Kenyans held their own “election” and “voters” cast their vote and its no suprise who won. Here is the story i posted
http://www.africapoint.net/kenya/kenyans-vote-for-obama-in-mock-polls/
“… in his father’s birthplace in Kogelo village a bull was slaughtered to celebrate his win.”
Here in the States it was an elephant …
Rich -
I think that you stated your case quite well. I started watching the candidates long before the race got down to two individuals. I found every D & R candidate I could during the primaries and connected with them through their social networking as well as email campaigns.
I originally did this because I’m an independent and I wanted to gather information from various sources. I quickly realized that I was going to learn about more than the political candidates’ positions.
It was a lot to watch, but I really got an education about what to do and what not to do. Many of the campaigns had accounts and did nothing with them. Nothing is worse than apathy. It would have been better to not have an account or e-zine.
I observed great consistency in the marketing that the Obama campaign conducted. The language was also different. Many of the other candidates used “I” statements (something in marketing we are told to never do!), while the Obama campaign consistently used “we” or “us” statements. They made the person reading subconsciously a part of the process. The other difference I observed in technique was the use of different “authors.” I received emails from Biden, Michelle, campaign leads, and Obama himself. The tone was welcoming and warm. I did not observe the same consistencies in other campaign communication.
One commenter here discussed the amount of money Obama raised, but isn’t that another point to prove that his marketing worked? It was the average person donating anywhere from $5-20 that raised those millions. Yes, the advertising helped, all communication marketing will help a campaign, but he had to raise the money before he could pay for the ads.
Now, I wondered if the requests for $5-20 in his marketing were possible outside of the political arena, so I tested it. I was recently on the strategy team for an ABC “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build in Central Illinois. On day 1 of the build we had $400 in the account to pay for everything. We decided to employ the “Obama strategy.” All of our marketing for that 7 days of the build used strategies that we had observed in Obama’s campaign – blogging, email, rss, social networking – as well as more traditional marketing. Hands down, our videos on MySpace and Facebook as well as our RSS of media releases and such were what put us over the top. People got connected and when they are connected they open their pocketbook. By the end of the build, just 6 short days later, our balance was at $120,000. When we looked at the account we saw that most of the donations were between $5 and $100. That was evidence enough for me that the strategy worked.
Now to apply it to my business!
To your success!
Stephanie
Productive & Organized – We’ll help you find your way! tm
Was it more a question of McCain losing rather than Barack winning?
The fact that Obama outspent John McCain is ANOTHER direct example of the power of social marketing. He raised $650 Million from average people. That NEVER would have happened in the old style political campaigns. Whether you are for either political party, there was a lot to be learned from this campaign on both sides. We need to objectively look at ANY example of how to grow our businesses and that is amazing to me how the Obama campaign raised so much money via the internet.
The real reason Obama won was none of these things. Sure, they all contributed some.
But the real reason was this: Obama *looked presidential*. McCain didn’t.
Voters tick people – not policies, history, promises or markets. And every inch of the way Obama was a president-in-waiting… acting like one, looking like one, behaving like one. Even on David Letterman’s show, he let his presidential guard down only enough to expose his humanness. McCain – on the same show a few months later – acted like a try-hard comedian. And failed.
I have never seen such a contrast in winners and losers. It’s extreme enough for me to rewrite the old adage to read: “90% of success is looking the part.”
So where do you get these “plans” exactly?
Click Here To Claim Your First FREE Month Of Cashmaps
These links are going to the 404 page.
cf
Very clever post. At the right time. Another brilliant marketing idea that educates and informs us as well. I thank you for the painstaking analysis and revelation. Good marketing works. And I think there is more to it.
Thanks Rich – your observations are certainly challenging.
As a South African, I read your blog with fascination. We are going through a political pre-election crisis in our own country right now. Most people in South Africa were electrically galvanised by the Obama campaign in the USA and now the majority are overjoyed that he is the next USA President.
In terms of his use of the Internet as a marketing tool we could learn a lot over here. However, this tool remains premature and may even be still born due to poor bandwidth and the relatively small percentage of our population who have 24hr access to the internet.
Cell phone technology in SA and Africa in general, on the other hand, is powerful. I would like to hear more about how this device can be used as a marketing tool for our businesses. the politicians here have not even caught onto this device for promoting their campaigns. Old fashion tools such as the press, radio and public meetings still hold sway. Africa is still, sadly, operating in the dark ages of jungle marketing.
Great post, spot on and all that…but you need to fix your links. Each link is http://www.strategicprofits.com/www.strategicprofits.com/cashmaps
How much traffic are you losing because some people don’t realize they can cut out the second http://www.strategicprofits.com part?
I got here from your email, btw and it looks to be a fantastic product. It’s awesome that you’ve put together a visual guide. And, just a suggestion, but why not release chunks of it as well, say a map for search marketers only, membership sites only, ebook writers, etc.? (If you haven’t already.)
I love your work. Thanks for being a great resource.
Yes I Agree he had an awesome marketing team….Barack even made mention of this in one of his speeches.
Kim
http://presidentbarakobama-kimberly.blogspot.com/
Theres a million $ in it for the person who can analyse the whole campaign start to finish- not just social networks- it was a collective push ot the many aspects that got him elected.
When somebody puts it together , send me a copy
regards GC
Rich,
I agree with your post – but, someone beat you to the punch. David Bullock and and Brent Leary pointed this out a number of weeks ago on their website.
What President-elect Obama and his team did was nothing short of remarkable and clearly showed both the incredible potential and startling power of this new medium.
Great post as always,
Jim
Enjoyable and insightful posting. Those of us from north of the 49th watched your country’s campaign with great interest, even though we were in the middle of our own federal election.
If indeed social marketing is seen to be a significant factor in this outcome, my guess is that next time both parties will be on top of that game and it will come down to some other factor.
Regardless of why Obama won, I hope things go well for you all down there (because it sure affects us up here!)
Hi Rich,
As usual an excellent post. Since most of the thoughts I have address the negative aspects of this type of campaign, I will refrain from my original post. Suffice it to say that proven once again one of the rules of sales: “The sale is made by emotions and justified by logic”. Another saying, perhaps even another rule, that has been around for a while and is worthy of recall at this time: “Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it”…shades of past governments, such as the Roman, Greek and so on who followed the path we are now on. In selling Obama did we also sell our nation? Time will tell.
Thank you Rich for sharing your insights. Very thought provoking and well worth the read. Keep them coming.
By the way, I followed your link for the cashmaps and got a message, “the page you are looking for is not available but don’t worry…”. I assume you know what that is about. Will try again later.
Thanks again
Ken
G’Day Rich, Great post & the comments rock too!
Obama should plan a ‘Kennedy moment’ as no individual (or country) can fix the economy. The United States of America ‘brand’ could once again become a ‘power brand’.
The reason is simple. While the first Wall Street bail-out cost $700 billion, it costs just $50 billion a year extra to end preventable starvation. If 12 extras people a day are fed, starvation will be history in 2013!
Social networks would get behind this goal world-wide should Obama’s social media strategists need a Plan B! The world loving the US is a big part of preventing depression!
Jonathan
OzMath.com
WarOnStarvation.blogspot.com
You say our president won due to a better marketing campaign.
I disagree, and here is why.
First are you going to tell everyone that voted for him that they are stupid, or short sighted? Just like when ol Rush Slimball made the statement that the only reason Powell supported Obama was because he was black!
I don’t beleive Powell is that stupid, nor are the American voters.
It’s like saying if I have a good marketing skill then I could sell you a can of dog dung and claim it was the greatest meal for your pet, you really gonna buy it?
Obama is a breath of fresh air, and smart.
After eight years of Bush Snit, the country was ready for a change, and they didn’t see it in McCain, and to think that Palin could be commander in cheif if something were to happen to McCain was just to much for the people to except.
If I don’t believe in something, you could stand there in my face 24/7 trying your best to convince me otherwise, and I would not change my mind.
So; no, I don’t buy your theory that the only reason Obama won was because they ran a better operation, which they did, but the main reason we have a black man in the white house is because he was the better man for the job.
America just bought that billion $ can of DOG DUNG and I hope we do not have cause regret it.
First off, I totally agree with newscruzer1’s comment and THAT I feel is the true reason why Americans across the board voted for Mr. Obama to be the next President of the United (as in united we stand, divided we fall.) States of America. Now that being said ALL that disagree about the outcome should put aside their differences and commit or try to commit to moving on with life. And Rich you come up with some interesting and thought provoking concepts, so agree or disagree, keep up the good work.
Newscruzer 1 you said, “It’s like saying if I have a good marketing skill then I could sell you a can of dog dung and claim it was the greatest meal for your pet, you really gonna buy it?”
You better believe it! Our consumerism economy is built on selling things people don’t need, want, or will ever use.
Dung is sold to the public daily. They may never buy it again, but some marketeers don’t care. You package your dung, market it well, and when all that bought it discover what they have, you fold your tent, bank the millions you made from the one campaign, and then find another piece of dung to market.
Aside from that, Rich is right on. Politicians have been sold and marketed in some manner since there have been politicians. In this great information/technology age it is being honed to a fine art.
In my humble opinion we have been sold a dangerous and toxic product in this election.
Wait-Stop! Think again … if you doubt the American people are stupid, take a look at network TV. Electing Obama heralds the destruction of America [and his race has NOTHING to do with it - it's his policies and political puppetness]. As far as Sarah Palin becoming president, we could only have been so lucky; a female Harry Truman would have rocketed America back to prosperity and political integrity. She was the 3rd best candidate for the office in 40 years – with Ron Paul being 1st and John McCain 2nd. McCain lost because the Democrats, starting with Carter and then followed by Clinton, destroyed America’s Mortgage markets. McCain tried to fix that in 2004. Now along comes Obama with more “spoon the Bulls*** to the idiots” who were stupid enough to buy it. What I’m most surprised at is that the McCain campaign never broadcast the fact that Frank Reigns – who crippled Fannie Mae while stealing 92 million in pay – was Obama’s campaign strategist. As for security, I’ll bet a dollar to a wooden nickel that the next terrorist attack on American soil takes place between Inaugriation and April 15th.
Wow!
I had no idea people were on Rich Schefren’s list that were this completely f$%k-nuts insane!
“A female Harry Truman”?!?! That has to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard throughout this entire year.
But, let’s get back to the actual point: There are a thousand different points to argue as to why Obama won, but Rich’s point that Obama had better marketing is absolutely spot on! That’s the point of this blog post – that’s what we the readers should be commenting on.
Was there more money in the kitty for Obama? Absolutely, because his ongoing marketing was constantly filling up the coffers.
Was he conceived as a new and vibrant “breath of fresh air” for America? Absolutely, because he had exposure across all kinds of media and people saw something new and shiny and radically unique from anything they had ever been offered before in their choice for President – sounds like marketing to me!
Did he totally crush McCain among young and first time voters? Yep, he just happened to have great interaction with young people who spend a lot of time on the… Internet! QED: Social marketing can’t be avoided if you want to succeed!
We can go round and round in a big circle jerk about who’s better and make false claims about both candidates, or we stick to the script and acknowledge that Obama simply ran a better campaign throughout.
Campaigning is marketing and Obama won hands down, so what are we all still arguing about?
By the way reader, please be aware that this writer is deliberately light-years away from politics.
From that vantage point and strictly in social marketing/social media terms, allow me to think that the badge of honor ought to be conferred to congressman Dr. Ron Paul. His debut on the social media had the effect-on political circles- of a mountain lion chancing upon a pack of grazing deers.
His campaign was word-of-mouth-advertising at it’s best, that no amount of money can pay for it, and indeed raised millions of dollars by the day from ordinary folks, a world record. The search engines were boiling over with the search terms for the good doctor. Far more donated and voluntary bandwidth, be it videos or blogs etc, more than any politician, was covering him.
Folks were traveling a thousand miles or more on their own nickle to campaign sites.
Hi Rich,
Just today I said I would love to hear you and other gurus comment on the brilliant marketing of Obama’s campaign. Ask and ye shall have eh? Loved this and yes, it merits a full study. thanks for this observation.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey Fullerton
http://www.expressivefusion.com
Rich… The links are not working…
Watching from Australia I agree that the real reason Obama won was that he looked presidential and was calm and in control. He acted like one, looked like one and behaved like one. He also had the perception of youth and vigour and a man who could go the distance.The young family man image did not hurt either.
Hi Rich,
You’re awesome mate. (That mate is from a Canadian living in Australia) : )
I hope you don’t mind if I go ahead and express the fact that I disagree…
Although I’d agree that Obama more than effectively used Social Marketing to boost his campaign — no question about that!
Although I’d agree that it was the medium where he was most likey to have the greatest “new impact” — espepcially vs. McCain.
I’d have to say that social marketing was a spoke in a big wheel –It’s a shiney spoke — Actaully it’s the shiniest spoke, but…
You simply can’t do what he’s done in so many area’s including with the shiniest spoke (Social media marketing) without having one or two waaaaaay more important attributes.
IE: A plan — I think you may have slightly under-estimated it’s role here — Perhaps with humility, but really it is THE thing in the bigger picture.
Well, Actually…
Let me go on record as saying it’s second.
Second only to…
“Holding a HUGE Vision With Clarity.”
Think about it for a second…
It may seem a bit esoteric but without THAT clarity and enormity of vision — without really having THAT — none of this would have happened — NONE of it!
So, for me, it’s…
Third place going to Social marketing.
Second place goes to exquisite planning.
And first place unequivocally goes to unshakeable vision!
Shaune — The Canadian Living “Down-Under”
copywriting
“Holding a HUGE Vision With Clarity.”
Agreed. What could be more huge than an empty promise? What could be clearer than an absolute lack of detail? Interstellar Space is tiny and positively cluttered by comparison.
The Obama campaign made the wonderful discovery that it’s possible to sell the sizzle even without the steak.
Buyer’s remorse may prove a significant factor over the coming months, but for now there’s no question, it was a brilliant campaign with much to teach us all.
What I found so interesting in the end (and something that isn’t really measurable) was that in what should have been a battleground election, Republicans just plain failed to show up.
Now in keeping with the post topic – what it makes me wonder is this:
==> Was the campaigning (social networking in particular) effective enough to keep them home but not quite enough to get them to cross over?
Basically I see every Republican voter no-show as a passive vote FOR Obama. For whatever reason, seems they couldn’t quite swallow McCain/Palin enough to come out against Obama. That or they had gotten enough ‘up close and personal’ of him to be confused? (a confused buyer never shops, right?)
Hard to say.
Either way – Internet marketing with a strong social networking component is clearly a wave that’s here to stay. For whatever niche it is we decide to tackle.
Neat stuff!
Thanks Rich,
Andrea
I agree that Obama’s campaign strategy was brilliant. And I am impressed by his ability to identify and represent relevance to his audience.
I must admit that at first, I was concerned about him being such a “junior” politician and I thought he might not have accumulated enough political capital to be an effective leader. However, I have certainly changed my opinion of President-Elect Barack Obama.
He doesn’t need political capital. He seems to possess a genius for discovering what is important to people and then reinventing himself in order to be perceived as relevant to them. And I am not implying that there was anything insincere (for a politician :-)) about his stance on social and economic issues and reform, however I am saying that he knows how to pick his audience and how to talk to the members of it in a way that helps them to feel understood.
And, had he not understood the necessity to be relevant to his social network following, his campaign would likely have taken a different turn.
I read some material on the internet about his fundraising tactics developed over the past 17 years under the tutelage of the most wealthy and influencial Chicagoans; PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA HAS PROCESS/CASH MAPS TATTOOED ON THE INSIDE OF HIS BRAIN!
In short, Obama won because he implemented a vision strategically and delivered it to the members of his target social network in a package that was relevant to them. They experienced Obama as having taken their collective pulse and then offering to fill their needs. If he were not in public service he would be a mega successful tycoon.
Yes, business and politics are strange bedfellows, AND relevance is not born of isolation. So much for working at home.
Social networking, marketing, Bush hating, money — all had an impact. But you’re all missing the REAL reason: EMOTION. Obama was able to stir up his audience emotionally. The liberal/left tend to be more emotionally reactive anyway, so this was easier for him to do than it was for McCain/Palin to rouse their base.
We justify our actions (purchases and votes) with logic, but our underlying motivations are typically driven by emotions (hope and fear).
Come on. He won because of social marketing? Hahhaaa, that statement is just plain and stupid. I mean come on, he won because the people with the money put them there to play the marionette.
Well I think it was definetly the marketing campaign that sold them on change because the last election proved that no matter how bad a president they have they are capable of making the same mistake twice. The marketing campaign seemed to focus on change = a better world which seemed to drive home the message “vote for me” which they did.
You hit the nail right on the head. Social Networking.
Before we realized itm we were driven in and by the Obama
campain. He won because of the TEAM.
I registered very early in both Obama and McCain’s sites.
I was receiving there mails regularly, so, i’m well positionned
to give a point of view on comparing them.
In McCain’s campain, you don’t feel there is a connection
between what McCain, Sarah Palin and the online team are doing.
Sometimes even they are sending conflicting messages.
In the other hand, you see consistancy on a plan to work.
Even when Obama or Biden commit a mistake, the next day you
see all the The Campagn Machine, online and offline, working to
correct it. You feel Obama is working with a Team, getting
advice, following a well-defined path.
David Plouffe, his director of campaign, supercharged the online
world with Sccial marketing,
using all the social sites or almost all of them, email marketing
blogging, web 2.0 interactivity, networking, the power of
Graphics, Videos, Audios, personalized mails..you name it.
The McCain campaign in the second half, were just copying on Obama’s
with delay and poor quality.
You are absolutely right, we are not politicians but we have a
great lot to learn from this campain as marketers, for whaterver
product, service or cause we are marketing.
The power of the NET is no longer to demonstrate.
Bounama Diallo
The Crazy Giver
http://www.todaymillions.com
Interesting to read the comments, obviously republicans disagree with democrats but the fact remains that it was WWB 2.0 that got Obama elected no question about it Please watch this video with a step by step explanation of how the Obama campaign did better than the McCain Campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFBx6K4jqiY
Enjoy
Thanks Rich and All,
A Great topic and discussion!
If it’s social marketing, the principle of OPENNESS comes into play. Yet, before this, the man Obama has CHARACTER, the huge amount necessary to cultivate wisdom while observing a society and world in deepening crisis. While clearly earning a right to enjoy the cynical self-serving freedoms of elitist privilege, his Vision goes beyond this, I hope way beyond and UNSHAKEABLY (as ‘copywriting’ said above).
Can we all agree that Bush and conservative supporters play the OPENNESS principle grudgingly at best? I mean, how many secrets and walls does it take to kill a freedom loving citizenry?? These being the folks Palin was brought on to galvanize which she did wonderfully at the cost of anyone craving some degree of OPENNESS in our public life rejecting McCain.
Speaking of Money, I believe that social marketing brought in impressive amounts of little money and made for operational strength early on and long-term. Big money came on gradually and biggest when the win was a best bet. But BUYING an election, as in the ability to blanket media markets with more ads than your competitor is just a bad excuse for losing. I figure an undecided voter is either numbed or dead if their not following up each add with online research into its relative truth value. Again, OPENNESS, but now vsv. the uncontrollable blogosphere and generally how the web has to operate if its going to remain remotely affordable enough to become the wonderful human resource we all HOPE it’s becoming.
Character, Openness, Collective Hope…I’ll bet on Obama’s faith in these principles….and perhaps remarkably, our own.
namaste, Pierre
This post and the following commentary just depresses the hell out of me. Just think if we chose doctors, airline pilots, and other individuals who are entrusted with our lives using marketing and packaging as the yardstick for obtaining the position.
The only thing historical about Obama is the unprecedented level of lack of any real qualifications that he brings to the table.
This is perhaps the worst analysis of the campaign I’ve seen as yet. Laughable, if it wasn’t so depressing.
Great post, Rich- and thanks to all the contributors to this point for a cogent and non-vitriolic response.
There’s no doubt social marketing played a big part in Obama’s campaign- to those who participate in social networking. Most of those are the younger voters, who were already largely for Obama, out of the starting gate. It probably broadened the numbers of those in that age group who otherwise might have been disinterested, or who might have supported Obama in their minds, but never bothered to vote. For us old farts for whom “social networking” is schmoozing up potential clients at a party, and for whom “Twitter” is a sound a bird makes, it made no difference at all, as we were never plugged into it to start with. I think the key point here is that I always knew that this election would be the Last Hurrah for the “old fart” generation in presidential politics- it would either give us the last president from that generation, or the first one from the next generation coming up, and it turned out to be the latter. I sincerely doubt that we’ll ever see another president from the older half of the boomer generation, unless something happens to Obama and Biden moves into the Oval Office. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot longer to clear all the clogged arteries out of Congress and make room for the younger generation to move in there, as well. My generation has messed things up well enough for its time- now let the next generation mess things up in their own way. (Yes, my outlook on humankind is definitely Augustinian.) But Obama’s approach to the youthful portion of his base was the right one, and well done, just as McCain’s nomination of Palin energized HIS base, whatever you think of her. Up until then, he was just Not-Obama to the Conservative base. After that, their enthusiasm was palable.
Still, the main factor in his easy win was the Clinton Law of 1992; “It’s the economy, stupid!” Until the big crash, it was a horse race, with McCain leading more often in the polls than Obama, and McCain getting a bigger post-convention bounce, as well. It was the finances that pushed it so decisively to Obama in the last weeks of the campaign- just as a terrorist attack, had it happened instead, would have pushed it as decisively to McCain.
A Rich disclaimer, here, before my final point- I AM NOT A RACIST! The African-American vote has been reliably 90% Democratic for several election cycles, but their turnout on election day has been lower than most other ethnic groups. Obama gave them a reason to turn out in droves. I don’t know if this made a small or large contribution to Obama’s margin of victory, but all those Democratic votes probably paid a big part in pushing the Democratic candidates to victory in close Senate and House races that otherwise may well have gone to the Republicans, even with the Clinton Rule.
‘Nuff said- now it’s time for us all to tune down the campaign rhetoric and vitriol. We can all hope and pray the newly-elected govern well, for the sake of the nation- increasing the fortunes of the political party that is not my own will be a small price to pay for such success. If they flub it as badly as the Bushies did in the last 4 years, they’ll face their own wave of rejection, starting with the off-year elections of 2010, IF the Republicans have enough leadership & savvy to come up with a real plan and a real campaign, as they did with Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America in 1994.
Right on the money, Rich. Good marketing can move ANY product. The proof is the many examples of people who supported McCain positions when told they were Obama’s. A widely circulated clip showed Obama supporters ecstatic over his supposed selection of Sarah Palin for his Vice President, with some respondents gushing that she’d do a great job since (they thought) Obama had picked her. Any marketing campaign that has people buying, and even promoting, your product on the basis of your competitor’s features is a great campaign.
Until fulfillment, of course, or should I say lack of fulfillment. An awful lot of people are going to be very unhappy if you sell them something and they find out it’s not at all what they expected. Sure, the false claims were all in their own heads, and in a campaign like this “all sales are final,” but in the long run an awful lot of customers can be alienated.
Rich, I’d be very interested, as others have asked or implied, to hear your thoughts on the Ron Paul campaign. There’s no doubt his social marketing was powerful and in play long before the Obama campaign really took off, yet he virtually fell off the radar once Obama’s pitch got traction.
My guess is that Paul was merely offering something while Obama’s vaguely promised everything — “Beat arthritis pain” finds it tough to compete against “Feel wonderful for the rest of your life!” — but of course one could also say Paul limited himself by refusing illegal donations, etc. — in short, by being honest.
Anyway, it’d be interesting to hear your analysis.
Rich, nice try.
You completely disregard the assistance the MSM threw the wining candidate – how many $$ was their effort worth in free advertising? Nationwide. Non-stop. For Two Years??
Of course I understand the importance of the Social Marketing aspect of both the marketing of the candidate and this site, but give me a break!
Jim, you are absolutely correct. It was clearly a combination of factors that propelled Obama…yes, an effective social marketing campaign but, in addition, a clearly biased mainstream media, millions of dollars that were raised that are suspect of major campaign finance violations, voter fraud problems, etc.
If you examine the stats regarding how the mainstream press covered Obama versus McCain, the bias is blatant. Millions of dollars worth of “free advertising” supporting Obama was taking place weekly in the form of biased coverage. When you couple that with the stats covering even the talk shows constantly engaging in anti-McCain jokes, including those exhibiting age discrimination (why did McCain release ALL his health records and Obama, a heavy smoker his entire life, did NOT?) the combination of factors made the difference.
If you are a marketer, you of all people, should understand the power of communication online and offline. The media is far more powerful than the government ever will be. It is up to the electorate to dig beyond the snippets and search for the truth.
I, like many other people, disagreed with both candidates on different issues. At least I know that I worked hard to make a decision based on the facts, not on hype. I wish our new President the best but I think he will be in shock when he really sees that what he’s facing is not going to be cured by the spending frenzy he proposed during the campaign. A trillion dollars in new spending programs when this country is already in a financial disaster of epic proportions is not a solution…it’s like throwing a stick of dynamite on a burning propane tank hoping to extinguish the fire.
Yes Obama’s campain was excellent in all aspects, but brillant when it came to connecting with young voters through social networking. His campain reminds me a lot of many of the products and services promoted on the internet. They have a real pretty box and a attractive price tag, but once you buy them will they deliver as promised. Only time will tell…
I find the conversations about social marketing interesting.
What is social marketing? One could say it is good old fashioned word of mouth. I like something or someone, I tell others. I don’t like something or someone, I tell others. Deep down, it isn’t. Just a much cheaper and shrewder form of “product placement” advertising.
Why does word of mouth (not social) marketing work so well? Generally speaking, it comes from someone we know and trust; someone we have established a relationship with, and know has our (overall) best interests at heart when giving said advice, and or referral. Someone that knows there is or could be a negative impact in the friendship if said trust is broken.
To those that scream social marketing is the wave of the future… buyer beware!!!
Our nature is to be trustful of those around us and our ‘inner circle’ of friends. Thus, social marketing in its present state (still in it’s infancy) is working. Due to the fact that overall, the contacts we have are direct friends, and direct referrals of friends.
All too soon, this pond of “new” will become just as murky and useless for consumption as the water from a spring rain after children go out to play in it’s puddles.
It won’t be long before consumers realize that the ’social’ sites are over run with marketers and their advertising. That their ‘friends list’ has become nothing more than another way for us to waste time trying to find the pearl in the bottom of a garbage can. Our so called friends just may be wolves in sheeps’ clothing, attempting to manipulate their way into our heads. Taking the trust and impact of the so called friend’s advice and putting it into question… Ok… what are they trying to sell me? Is this information truthful and does it really come from someone with my best interests at heart, or theirs?
We may like to be sold, we do not like to be manipulated.
Texting is now the rage. Why? It is still pure. Still clean. No commercials. No deceit. No garbage to sift through.
The email was once a great form of communication. For all intent, especially to the younger, email is dead. Why? Spam, junk email. Advertising making email a waste of time to try to find the gem (letter from mom) in the mess of 200 spam emails about viagra, hair replacement, cheap software and someone trying to sell me what I don’t want or need or gave permission to see.
The social sites started with kids and was pure. Myspace was kids, then adults started in, then commercialized and muddied. Facebook is following the same pattern. Youtube was originally fun video’s. Now you don’t know what is real or some creative commercial for a car company.
Blogging was good in the beginning. Me talking of my thoughts. Now days, ya never know who is saying what, or why they are saying it. Are they talking up said product or service because they like it, or are getting paid to blog and like it?
It won’t take long for the end user to realize the information and fun of swimming in the clear water of the ’social sites’ are dangerous waters filled with sharks and commercial advertising.
Work your social marketing now while you still can. But better business owners will be keeping their keen eye open for what is next.
Never forget… real word of mouth is still, and always will be the best. Have a quality product or service worthy of ‘real’ friends telling other ‘real’ friends.
I believe Obama won because he was in the right place at the right time and he did the right things. Obama knows what it means to have and not to have. He associated with the young and with the old. He used the old ways of marketing and the new means. He just had it right and most importantly, he had the right woman supporting him; in fact, I believe that Obama’s victory came about because of his family.
Hi Rich,
Although I’m from the UK and don’t follow politics there is no doubt that you cannot possibly ignore the powerful online marketing campaigns that each candidate made. Barak Obama’s team being the most prominent of all.
Maybe we should hire his mastermind team to dominate social media!
Just proves that everyone needs to be utilizing social networks to build their reputation, network with like-minded people and gain free traffic and publicity for you an your business.
-Nancy ;-)
http://twitter.com/npredford
Some very interesting comments here!
IMHO people when people are faced with choices it basically comes down to “what’s in it for me?”. That question will trigger both positive and negative emotions within the questioner; these emotions will eventually lead him/her down one of three roads; i.e. vote for this one, vote for that one, do nothing.
Mr. Obama and his team were able to use “new media” and traditional media more effectively to get in touch with more people compared to the McCain camp. Having gained the attention of a large crowd the objective then is to tell them “what’s in it for them”. This was easy for Obama because he could point out what the last eight years of the Bush administration had brought the country and emphasised that a vote for McCain was a vote for more of the same. Now it does not take a genius to predict what most people would want under those circumstances.
McCain’s supporters pointed out Obama’s inexperience, his naive foreign policy thinking, his alleged connections to former terrorists and those that hate America, they questioned his religion, said he was a communist, etc, etc; and maybe they were right on some of these comments, but all these tactic were designed to induce negative emotions within people. On the other hand, good messages about McCain being a war hero, a maverick, the comeback kid who never gives up, etc were broadcasted to associate McCain with strong positive feelings we would all like to aspire to.
There is a saying, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”; one would have thought, from the portrayal of both candidates, that the known devil – McCain, would have been way ahead of the unknown devil – Obama.
The message from both camps was about “change”, the difference was in the degree of change, McCain’s proposed changes were probably seen as mere tinkering with current policies, Obama told the people they should demand much bigger changes, in the end the people made their true feelings count.
Whilst social marketing got people tuned in, a big part of making the sale was knowing what it was that people wanted to hear that would conjured up the emotions to lead them down the desired path. Looking at it from Obama’s perspective, enough people felt they wanted a big change away from the last eight years and, of the two candidates, Obama was the one to deliver those changes, their choice was the first desired checkout point of the Obama camp.
Judging from the large number of absent republican voters, it appears that many of them also wanted change but could not bring themselves to vote for Obama, so you could say they chose the second checkout point of the Obama camp, either way they were not using the McCain checkout
The change that Obama spoken about have already taken place, and is taking shape, some of it good, some of it very bad, but nonetheless the process has been happening. Obama is a product of the process that have evolved during the last number of years; by voting for Obama, the people have confirmed they want their lives changed for the better and they want it to happen sooner than later
Rich, I disagree with your analysis.
The essential reason why Obama is our new President is owing to …
THE INCREASING DEGENERACY AND DECADANCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
If good social marketing was the big factor in Obama’s win … then … as a nation … we’re finished. Because … that tells me that the majority of our populace are basically sheep in need of fat cat government shepherds. Anyone with a modicum of character and individuality would recognize Obama for the godless totalitarian socialist he really is.
Not that I was a fan of McCain. Far from it. (Had Sarah Palin not been on the ticket, I wouldn’t have voted for him.) At the core, John McCain was a liberal “maverick” who climbed into bed with the liberal democrats waaay too often. He deserved to lose because he wasn’t a true Republican.
Now all we can look forward to are an expansion of government, less individual freedom, higher taxes, and more lawlessness.
Policies that go against the Biblical principles of limited government are doomed to failure.
The American people are determined to continue on the road to serfdom.
Sorry to have to disagree with you … but … when you boil it all down … you have to conclude that the majority of the American people are either non-thinking sheep looking for handouts … or … individuals whose minds have been virtually erased by the deadliest of all diseases:liberalism.
I will have to agree with you that Obama’s people did a stupendous job of marketing the guy, specially on the Internet. They were also able to “unmarket” the opposition, albeit with substantial media help (but that is really par for the course – there, the playing field has never really been level).
Here you have a first term senator who spent less than two years on the job (the other time was spent campaigning) who never really had anything substantive to say – other than populist 30 second soundbites (attached one to another on occasion to construct a “speech”) and the quasi-Hitlerian hypnotic repetition of the word “change” – and who, in fact, was forced to shy away from town hall meeting formats where more substantive answers were expected (his one foray into that medium was definitely not successful, and he quickly learned from the experience, refusing a repetition of the experience) BUT… who was masterfully marketed to an audience who “bought the product that was marketed and sold to them”.
One symbol of the Obama marketing supremacy was the picturing of Palin as “inexperienced” – a charge that under other circumstances, would be considered a joke – specially as it was coming from the team that was marketing the most politically inexperienced candidate in the field. But again, with media support, they managed (after first reacting in sheer panic after the initial Palin choice announcement) by sheer Goebbelian repetition, to “stick” the inexperienced label to a former mayor and state governor. Excellent marketing!
The Obama marketing campaign was fascinatingly efficient and effective. It should be studied by all. To the extent that educational standards in the US have been steadily decreasing – resulting in a general “dumbing down” of the population [Ah! There is a logic to the success of Jerry Springer type shows after all!] and the prevalence of general ignorance among the largely indifferent population (look at the voter participation numbers) regarding politico-philosophical issues and their implications, effective marketing campaigns appealing to various emotional constituencies will continue to generate favorable results for the most effective marketers. Substantive issues will not be the choice criteria. It will be the emotional appeal to various “belief” constituencies (remember that we “believe” in the absence of facts – if we have facts, then we “know”) that will end up determining who the victors will be.
In this particular example which you chose to address, two empty suits were competing for a big “power job”. One empty suit had better charisma (and a bigfger mouth) than the other. But he also had an outstanding marketing team. The best marketer won, and I congratulate him for it.
As someone looking at the US from the outside in, I would recommend the citizenry prepare for what’s coming. because when the marketing job is over, and the “rubber meets the road”, things change. You’ve already seen the 30 second sound bytes change from variations of “change” to “we have to be patient” and “we won’t be able to do everything”. This is the best sign that the marketing campaign was not really designed to be straightforward in all respects. It was designed to sell the product. And that it did.
My congratulations to the Obama marketing team. They did their job.
Barack Obama gives me hope. I think the man is brilliant. I pray for him, his family, and everyone of us that it all turns out right!!
Hi Rich, I actual have a question regarding your cashmaps. I am a real estate investor and I do advertise on line. Does your cashmaps apply to that audiance?
Thanks Carol
It seems to me that it wasn’t the stratagy or the technology. Instead, it was the habits of the voters. 65%+ of first-time voters and voters under 24 are the heaviest users of social networking. They also happen to have voted Democrat and for “change.” My parents & I don’t Twitter and my parents hardly know how to email. They use the phone. The under 24 democratic voter persona is usually an ideologue in favor, but don’t fund, social programs to save the xx. That doesn’t make their cause or vote wrong by any means. Just a common trait of the voting segment. Actually, the real reason for Obamas win is well documented: The economy and an unpopular President. It followed history to the T!
although i agree with his approach to selling hisself, i think one of the big selling points was his promise of change. he proposes radical change. even though i believe this country needs massive change in almost all areas, i hope that obama does not interject all the changes he talks about at once. i don’t think this country can handle that. with that said, although i am not an obama fan, he is what we have now. we can learn alot from how he got there. but since we are talking about business not politics, no matter how good the marketing, poor liz way back up there has a valid point. your product must hold up to your marketing. other wise you are just a crap slinger and your name gets dragged along with that.
Your assessment is totally correct,
however the formula only works when
you’re marketing a superior product or offer.
If your product or offer is “weak” or perceived
to be so – all the Social Networking in the world
is not going to help you.
Obama won in the end because his product/offer
was perceived to be the superior offer, the best
overall deal and value.
That’s where the battle is won or lost for most
marketers. Their products/offers just simply
aren’t appealing to the masses.
All of my friends who voted all agreed to a man how much sharper and “in tune” the winning campaign was managed.
All things being equal, had Senator McCain concentrated on his campaign’s social marketing efforts, who know what the outcome would have been?
In my opinion, both products McCain and Obama are equally appealling to the local market and the market beyond. But I agree with Rich that social marketing and today’s technology help propel Barack’s chance at winning. I probably would get a flack for saying this as well, but I never stopped wondering about Jamaica’s ‘Bronze Queen’ Marlene Ottey who, for several years have been relegated to that position in sports competition because there is no technology to defende her position or expose the cheaters until recently. It then came as no surprise that in the 2008 Beijing Olympics so many Jamaican athletes ended up cupping gold medals and world records – technology and transparency.
The change has come, not just for America in elections but other competitions so long as technology and transparency are part of the attributes. The product of course has to be of world class
quality at all times or no amount of techie airbrush or social marketing can hide its shortcomings if and when exposed.
I think this analysis is right on target. As a young Republican voter, I have been continually frustrated by my party’s ignorance of and resistance to most forms of marketing and web technology. The ads lacked creativity and focused on their opponent more than anything else. When they did use social media, the posts had a more polished, corporate, less personal feel that is the opposite of what most people expect from social media. I noticed this trend in our Senate race here in Georgia too. If this was frustrating to me, I can only imagine how it came across to undecided voters.
Without a doubt the internet was a major factor in this presidential election.
First let me say this……As for our presence in Iraq,
In 2003 millions upon millions of U.S. 100 dollar bills were found in several locations throughout Iraq. They were identical to the counterfeit bills found circulating around the eastern hemisphere. Today Iraq is costing us billions in military presence, and they are requesting we stay and continue to exhaust our resources for their benefit . I say we should offer to “stay for pay” just like any other business would hire a security guard to protect their assets. Next the banking industry should be instructed to clean up their mess by offering new 45 year mortgages based on the amount they owe on the existing mortgage rather than present housing values. Because as the housing market rebounds and cash starts flowing again housing values will rise back to “pre-crisis” values. Everybody wins….. As for Auto makers industry, they do not deserve to be bailed out, but at the same time the US economy and even the worlds economy can not afford to allow a company as big as General Motors to go belly up since they account for a double digit portion of the US economy.
That said, polls taken in less affluent areas found people saying they thought Obama’s choice of Sarah Palin for vice president was nothing short of brilliant! imagine that!!! several other issues opposed by Obama but supported by McCain were covered as being supported by Obama with the same results….If they were told Barack Obama supports it then they also thought it was a great idea…..on the flip side there were many that totally opposed anything there were told Barack Obama supported….the underlying issue among these people obviously was skin pigment….the scary part is they were allowed to vote….. It did not stop there. Many very wealthy Black people were compelled to support the first black candidate also. Sorry, but that had to be said, and as a white male over 50 I also supported Barack Obama because I only weighed the issues..that means I voted against McCain as much as I voted for Obama……
The internet and social marketing provided a means for the Obama campaign to get the funding from both within the American borders AND abroad. World wide, it was race, religion, and heritage that played a bigger role than policies giving a huge financial advantage to Obama. Looking at it that way, no one can deny that the internet played a major role in Barack Obama’s election, period.
Being the better candidate helped too!
have a business plan & stick to it. we cant hear that, and understand that enough!
I was going to vote for McCain one week prior to the election. When Mr. Obama gave his speech the Monday before the electon in Ohio I was very inspired by his message. I saw the excitment of the youth. I see younger people having great difficulties today, inequities in our health care system, and foriegn policy that has left much to be desired, I am appalled at the risks our banking system took with investors money and the overall derivative situation globally leaves not only our econonmy but the world’s economies at grave risk. We have added almost 2 trillion to our deficit in the past year.
I have usually voted Republican but I think we need a leader that skillfully will instill confidence. Liquidity’s bottom line is confidence that the end result for investors is benign , their investments are safe. The global economy has created a massive amount of wealth within the US as it is a safe haven for investors. We must restore confidence in our institutions for this to continue.
We need enthusiatic young people to work hard and grow our economy. I think Mr. Obama’s message gave them hope and that is why he was elected. Perhaps the baton in politics is finally being passed on to the next generation, something I have been waiting for decades, we must get beyond cold war ear politics and models of political process used during those periods. We need our young people’s energy and passion for affluence, social and moral values to carry our country forward. This I believe is the crux of the election.
Rich…
Very true posting… Obama’s campaign was ran far superior to McCains. From a strategic and tactical perspective and that has nothing to do with his policies… Ironically, I am amazed at those who take issue with his qualifications but yet he managed and executed a campaign far better than his competitor who seemed befuddled at every step! Interesting…
http://www.TourHoustonForeclosures.com – Get a great deal before Obama rescues the real estate market!
I REALLY THINK YOU ALL HAVE IT WRONG, MARKETING HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS WINNING IN THIS CASE. IT ALL BOILED DOWN TO A BLACK THING BECAUSE THE AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR HIM REGUARDLESS OF WHO HE WAS OR WHAT HE STOOD FOR. A NEWS GROUP WENT OUT AND ASKED QUESTIONS TO BLACK PEOPLE THAT WERE VOTEING AND MIXED UP THE FACTS AS IN MCCAIN’S VIEWS WERE SAID TO BE OBAMA’S THE PEOPLE SAID THE IDEA’S WERE GREAT AND AS THEY SHOULD BE, ON THE OTHER HAND WHEN OBAMA’S VIEWS WERE STATED AS MCCAIN’S THE RESPONSE WAS THAT THE IDEA’S WERE ALL WRONG. THIS SHOWS THAT THE SELLING FACTOR WAS HE WEA BLACK NOT MARKETING. I PERSONALLY KNOW OF PEOPLE THAT HAD NEVER VOTED BEFORE BUT REGISTERED AND VOTED THIS TIME, JUST BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK. I THINK IT WES A SORRY THING FOR PEOPLE TO GET OUT AND VOTE FOR THIS REASON AND NOT ON ACCOUNT OF ISSUES AND WHAT WAS BEST FOR THE COUNTRY.
THANKS HAROLD
Look for your Caps Lock key, Harold.
The demographics don’t bear out your theory. According to the statistics, Obama’s win didn’t come from any single group, but from a lead in every group that added up to a majority.
It may be true that he had an extensive presence on the internet, but the decisive factor remains that people voted for change in perspective in a changing world.
Young people do not understand politics much. On the internet the vision and boundaries are different. The skin color has little meaning. I believe they voted for one world and one race.
The dialoque on what makes a winner a winner has been engaging enough for me to listen to each participant on the blog.
The beauty in all of this is we have the ability to communicate our ideas, and our emotions in a forum that reaches across the earth. Yes, Obama won because he used what it took to win, social marketing, a tool that we all have access to win our indiviual business campaigns. Regardless of what you think of the Man, his strategy won in an environment that supported the message to the larger percentages of stakeholders. His timing (to run for president) in the marketplace was right. He connected the dots. That’s what I hope Rich’s CashMap will help me achieve.
All of us have this time in the market place to be successful. People are hopeful and their minds are open for change. Let’s fill their prescriptions with products and services that will make a real difference in their lives, their families, and the economy.
Use the “lead” we have been given, a new president who knows how to win “of the people and by the people.” It does not get any better than that nor is there no better time than now!
Happy Prosperity to All.
Hi Rich,
I totally agree. With the Obama team in place the USA has a real shot at getting the job done well and to the satisfaction of many of us. The Obama team is smart and they know where to put the communication. Any of us doing business on the internet can follow their example and win. Doing a great business is about communication. Where else can you get so much bang for your buck as the internet? Social Marketing is the “bees knees!”
Patricia
I’m commenting here as an outsider as I live in UK and don’t have a US vote.
Obama has for months been getting massive publicity in the media both here and in Europe. Some of this was the tantalizing prospect of a mixed-race president but, I have to say, most of it was that he represented such a change from George W Bush. Since the disaster of the Iraq war and, more recently, the financial crash, George W. has been characterised in our media as a numbskull manipulated by an administration of criminals and gangsters.
I’m sorry if that offends anyone but that’s how it’s been portrayed.
Obama, by contrast, looked and sounded like the saviour that the US and the world needs to clear up the massive mess caused by the current administration. His personna appears good and honest, he looks young, energetic, intelligent, he has an attractive family and, above all, he has charisma. McCain couldn’t compete on any of these counts.
This impression has got nothing to do with how well Obama’s been promoted on MySpace as most of Europe won’t have been exposed to the social media.
He’s won the election because he’s the best man for the job. Plain and simple.
As with most outcomes in life, results are nearly always a combination of a number of factors, both seen and unseen, known and unknown. This I know for sure :)
The comments are a significant read in and of themselves and congrats, Rich for successfully engaging so many potential customers with this value-driven blogpost. But if we were all in a room, I’d be wondering where YOU are. I realize the point of this blog post really isn’t about how Obama won–although that’s the hook, but it’s purpose is as a component in your Cash Maps marketing strategy. It’s a story/tutorial of social marketing inside a social marketing campaign. And if you buy it (find it valuable) then you must also buy Cash Maps. But I’m curious….what is really missing for me right now is your response to many of the comments that address you directly–your engagement. I know you’re busy and responding to blog comments is tedious, but is this not an opportunity to market on a more personal level?
Obama’s campaign will be studied for years to come by both political and business marketers. His use of digital marketing for building and maintaining support was exceptional. One small example:
http://tinyurl.com/5kb7ny
Young voters made up such an insignificant percentage of the electorate as to make the thrust of this article absurd.
I get that you are selling social marketing products but seriously, your argument doesn’t hold up to more than a minutes scrutiny.
ML, Toronto Canada.
I agree. I am a 40-something African American woman. I had never paid attention to this Barack Obama person – including his speech at the Democratic Convention. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, in part because I thought she surely had a better chance at winning. Then I started hearing the over-the-top raves from my acquaintances who were 20- and 30-something “intelligensia” dudes who worked in media and tech. They were blogging. They were Twittering. They were creating email lists of their own about Obama and Hope and Change.
Thanks for the blog. I hope you fix the links so we can get the marketing blueprint though. :)
Directly related to the social media. . . The day I realized it was over for the McCain Palin ticket was the day I rolled over in bed, first thing in the morning, and turned on Nickelodeon for my 6 yr old granddaughter to watch while getting ready for school, only to find Barack Obama talking instead of Sponge Bob. I felt angry and saddened at the same time. In addition, I had heard of school children coming home and “spying” on their parents because there were behind the scenes teachers pushing for Obama because of the liberal teachers unions. My own granddaughter was polling her own family only to tell me that I was in the minority! Of course she didn’t use those words, but everyone in elementary school was “voting” for Obama? How could that be????
I had already had enough of watching the liberal media to include major newpapers, magazines and TV stations (MSNBC Obama’s own network by the end of the election), praise their new “god”, while I was watching women actually swoon and reach out to grab any part of Obama they could. Oprah was in tears as her efforts to promote “THE ONE” had worked.
I have to admit, Barack does have a better presence, but I guess his body was never broken in as many places as McCain’s body and he can raise his arms high up in the air to wave to all of his admiring supporters. He can even stand up straight and tall. . . but could he have ever had the character to endure what McCain did? Besides, isn’t it what’s on the inside that is supposed to count? Not in America, at least not anymore.
Yes, Barack Obama dominated the social media that reached the younger crowd. He (or the republican who did it for him) did conduct a brilliant marketing effort just to get the vote and create a lot of hype for change. He targeted and won the younger generation, but what does the younger generation really know about change? What is there to change for them? Most of the college kids are attending college on their parent’s money and some on loans. A few are actually working their way through college. None have really experienced what it is like to be on their own, to pay for all of their own expenses, to actually pay taxes to the point where it hurts. Many were first time voters, which is great, voting for change. . . but change from what? I think there were a few democrats in the house and senate making some of the decisions that affected our country in the last 8 years and even a few that had something to do with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Do they even know about anything that has gone on?
If any of them are aspiring entrepreneurs, they had better pay attention to how much they will be making when they do graduate. To avoid higher taxes they need to be making under $250,000 — or, maybe $200,000 — no sorry, the last figure I heard was $120,000 so they don’t get taxed to death.
Yes, I believe in social causes, but not socialism. I prefer to keep giving my money to the charities I choose and not filling the coffers for those who don’t understand that they need to get a real job. I don’t want the government choosing for me. I’ve been out of work and barely had enough money to eat, but I went out and got a job just to put food on the table. A perfect example of how the Barack plan worked was reading a report from a little old lady who said she was glad that now Obama was going to help her pay her mortgage and was going to be sending her a check. I’m sure that will help her a lot next year.
I feel terrible for the direction America is taking. The liberals have won and more are to come on the Supreme Court, but many conservatives jumped on the band wagon as well. What ever happened to morals in our society? The rock star quality of the Obama campaign should scare us. The backing by all forms of media should scare us. The amount of money used to squash the McCain campaign (who did quite well in spite of the outspending), should worry us. Barack is going to owe a lot of people his soul.
Did we want a rock star with no experience? I guess so. Obama wasn’t my choice, mainly because of my conservative values, but, he is still my president now. I will pray for him and honor him in that position as he has won the right to be where he is. It is sad though that the real issues and real questions were never answered, and now, we just have to wait and see what is going to happen to us as a Nation. Will America remain the greatest country on earth? The nation who has reached out to more people and given more than any other country on earth? Only time will tell.
Well – I hate to disappoint those who think social media was all that and more. This just in from the National Journal – a post vote analysis by John Mercurio. “Obama also became the nation’s 44th president without a notable uptick in the percentage of that highly vaunted crop of voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Young voters made up 18 percent of the electorate Tuesday, which marked only a slight uptick from 17 percent in 2004.” I guess the difference was all those steel workers who are on twitteer and have blog buddies AND voted for Obama. I work in an office filled with twitter heads and texting maniacs and many of them didn’t vote. They are all busy now marching and protesting in the streets to undo California’s vote against gay marriage. Social media is highly highly over rated for the vast majority of people. It’s “the thing” to find out if Buffy is at the coffee shop or where the protesters are going to nosh – but elect a president – IMHO it definitely did not. I bet the numbers would look like this, if we could sort it all out. If you voted for Obama what percentage of you, absolutely, were influenced and were pushed over the top by social media 10% Yes, 30% no, 70% What is social media? The bigger advantage came from the money collected on the internet to run attack ads, that I could agree with. The decision to abandon the promise to use public funds was brilliant, much like the promise of wealth redistribution. We will see how well it goes after the 20th of January. Just send me a tweet or whatever!
Excellent article, Rich. Very much to the point. Obama’s superior marketing plan and implementation, careful targeting of his target markets and using the right keyword phrases (main keywords and long-tail keywords) to push each particular sub-market’s buttons, and masterful calls to action did the trick…
So much so, that the public and mainstream media overlooked all the obfuscations, the hidden things (e.g., sealed school records at all levels, sealed birth records, lack of any law review articles, “unavailable” information, etc) without which a substitute teacher or secretary couldn’t even get a job! Yet he spoke of open government. Go figure.
They didn’t care. People want an easy solution to their problems, to believe that you have the answer and will take care of it for them. Now they had an almost god-image to solve their problems…like many marketing gurus create for their own products. Some are great, some not. And like a marketing master, he created a buzz around his product before its “release” and let it build and build…
Great copywriting and delivery (great oratory), so that people didn’t see the hollowness of the content. Paradoxically, great use of the racial while calling himself non-racial, politicking as a Black Man (to get 96% of the black vote and play on whites’ desires to be seen as non-racial, as some expert analysts have written) instead of presenting himself as a “true American, one of all of you, half white and half black.” Many people turned from Martin Luther King’s admonition not to vote on color but on character. Many DID vote for the very ideal of the first Black American President (Hey, Colin Powell would have been great against Clinton, and Condi might have come along politically but for current administration difficulties.) …and the marketing encouraged it… the paradox of a sometimes subtle but powerful racial undercurrent supposedly to take us to the ideal most of us truly want, a post-racial America.
In fact, in the Social Media, if you dared challenge character, missing information, or uncovered things such as his support of radical cousin Odinga, or dared to challenge his basic economic policies that have been proven to backfire, well, you were just labeled a “racist.” (Wish John McCain had been black, so issue discussions would not have been so readily dismissed with that false label.) It was like a cult, a religion, with such force that you were a pariah if you dared disagree. And it was all created with charisma and marketing.
Beguiling copy, a little NLP, playing on people’s hurts and fears (even though he was instrumental in the very cause of the financial crisis and helped stop proposed remedial actions in the Senate)… making it seem it’s all the fault of the opponent and that he is a savior…just as the marketing gurus teach. You have the golden egg. Buy your product, and their worries are over.
I give the man full credit. One of the best marketing plans and plan executions I have ever seen. Gary Halbert would have loved it! Why, one national research firm went into multiple areas predominantly on-the-fence and polled the people after the election… only to find that 73% DISagreed with Obama’s key platform points, yet voted for him anyway. Is that charisma or what!
Sheer marketing genius.
Thanks for the insight Rich. I agree that even though Social Marketing not the entire picture, using it the right way counts in marketing. You’re simply able to reach more people – and then it gets forwarded…
I normally don’t text on my phone. But I responded to texts and emails for volunteers during the campaign. And, when I heard that Obama had bought a billboard inside a video game I was too through! Awesome execution.
So that fact that Obama’s opponent was a tired old man so completely bereft of ideas that he could only attack him with lies not a major factor in the outcome? And what about McCain’s preposterous choice for VP? That woman is a joke. A scary joke. Did the Palin choice not set off alarm bells about McCain’s mental clarity?
As a marketer you are making the mistake of viewing everything through a marketing lens.
This is something I would like to share with you all,I play guitar, sing and write songs as a hobby.I wrote the words, and sing this song to the melody of “Sweet Home Alabama” for those of you who are musically inclined,I hope you like it. HOPENo one thought you could make it No one thought you had a chanceAgainst the odds you beat the Clintons left Bill and Hillary in a tranceNow the Democrat’s, they had their nomineeThe Republican Party, had theirs tooThe race was on for the Oval OfficeThey picked their colour, red or blueOh Oh Barack Obama, No one thought that you could winBut you became the first black PresidentThe first black man to get inOh Oh Barack Obama,the bells of hope began to ringWhen you became the first black PresidentThe first black man in the West WingThe campaign you fought was a real blinderMySpace,You-Tube, and the “Internet”Accepting big and small, donationsSpent all the money you could getNow John McCain, he got nervousCalled Sarah Palin on the phone (yes he did)He said, get your ass down from AlaskaI need your help to get me home (and she said)Who is this guy Barack ObamaIs he a man or a moose?Don’t want no black man for our PresidentNo, no black man in the White HouseOh Oh Barack Obama, prejudice is such a sin(oh yes it is)Judge men by the content of their characterNot by the colour of their skinOh Oh Barack Obama, Like Doctor Martin Luther KingYou have a dream, a new day’s dawningThe people cry, the people singOh my my my Barack Obama,You are an inspiration to us allWe witnessed history in the makingLike the fall of the Berlin WallLike Neil Armstrong, and the Moon LandingIt’s one giant leap for mankindYes it’s been a long time comingOh how can we be so blind?Oh my my my Barck Obama, no one thought that you could winBut you became the first Black PresidentThe first black man to get inOh my my my Barck Obama,the bells of hope began to ringWhen you became the first black PresidentThe first black man in the West WingOh Oh Barack Obama, though troubled times lie aheadTogether we will face the futureThe American dream, it is not deadThe bad Bush years, we’ll leave behind usA wave of change is in the airAcross the World and in all NationsObama’s magic’s everywhereOh my my my Barack Obama, no one thought that you could winBut you became the first black PresidentThe first black man to get inOh my my my Barack Obama,the bells of hope began to ringWhen you became the first black PresidentThe first black man in the West WingOh Oh Barack Obama, the skinny kid with the funny nameYes, you became the first black PresidentNow things will never be the sameOh Oh Barack Obama, no one thought we’d see the dayWhen a black man would be the PresidentIn the good Ole, USA. Martin Byrne
If you follow the campaign of both candidates. You will noticed that McCain regrouped their marketing message which came with “Country First” meanwhile Obama stay the same with the “Change”.
McCain did have problem with the campaign and had to bring in other expert to fix the problem. When the problem was resolved, the polls tightened.
Obama keep on doing the same.
In the end, Obama wins. But the point here, McCain started off bad and timing was not great and he maybe will win if thing was ran differently.
And through the debates, McCain changes his talking points when Obama stay with the same message all the way.
The presidential candidates should be studied carefully because they spent millions of dollars on this marketing. We can learn lot from them.
Joe the Plumber marketing was brilliant. The news on media talks about it all the time after McCain mentioned it. Then there were youtube Joe the Plumber where all the supporters can submit the message. This small part of McCain was well executed.
About the Obama’s marketing team, Obama had David Alexrod who have the same strength of Karl Rove, Bush’s campaign manager. David Alexrod was the brain behind this. With help of David Plouffe to manage the deployment and teams made this possible.
If you watch Obama doing this without teleprompter, he will stammers and stutters. How people figure out was when Obama have the teleprompter in strange place that don’t need it.
Obama was fortunately to have the strong team behind him to propel him as the president-elect.
It took Obama two years to carry this plan out. Obama networked and climb up the ladder rung.
It all starts in Chicago as community organizer. Obama mastered the voter registration strategy. All of his training was in the Chicago. He had mentors, Ayers, Rezkos, and Wright.
When he was ready to run he brought his education to the larger scale, the Chicago machine politics. What you just saw was the chicago machine politics.
I am from Illinois and I have seen this strategy countless of time which is not new to me. This is new to the national.
In addition to Obama’s planning, he studied Gore and Kerry’s mistakes and improve.
It maybe took 8 years to change and 2 years for Obama to build his reputation which it overcome his thin resume experience and his connections to radicals. In fact, the FBI declined his security clearance due to his radical connections.
I have to say that this whole ‘Obama thing’ is a travesty of affirmative action; first, the Democratic party leadership, and then the media.
Social marketing did not make a difference with the winning block.
True, the marketing was first class. That kept him competitive.
But the winning edge was a hidden force that was part of the product. Obama had a charisma that put the winning portion of the voting block into a hypnotic trance. Kennedy and Reagan also had this charisma but with different groups.
Various Google Video’s, surveys, and personal interviews show that many Obama supporters had no interest in the issues. These same people had no logical reason for supporting him except that they lit up when they heard his name.
Rich, thanks for providing an objective platform for such a vigorous debate. Your impartial review of the marketing process and how social marketing played a role in the presidential election-2008 outcome was right on point.
True enough as some have mentioned, Obama was only the product – yet the product packaging was attractive with the printed motto of “Change” on the package . Combine that with a brilliant promotional and marketing team that is reaching the masses exponentially, and we have a “clearly won” race and not a recount.
When the Obama team was able to go into the competitor’s strong territory, market and gain a large portion of their traditional base, the foundation was laid earlier and I do believe social media played a large part of laying the groundwork.
As entrepreneurs striving for success, and attempting to stay attune to evolving impacting trends – I only hope that small business owners do not underestimate the power of social media’s viral effect and its far outreaching tentacles.
I think it might be wise to add some “transition and change” components in our marketing strategies and have some type of workable plan that includes social media as well.
Christine’s Internet Marketing Spot
Nice synopsis Rich…in addition to the brilliant use of social media, I believe that the most important thing that Obama did was he had a conversation with the electorate about what they wanted to talk about. DUH! – a light goes on. Isn’t this the real power of social media. You’re having a 2 way conversation with your market and if you listen, you find out what the real problems are and you can craft your solution and message to address this problem. Thanks for the AHA moment Rick!
The sounds good to be.
Accoding to the people reputation today, the bearing the finance writer needs on the blog. It is sure, the investors has been pending without the right information., and I heard the specialist had a small numbers in USA even it were in the world.
Iam might be a few in there, I can wrote the right informaton with social for the right person who should be in the group as of the elite and their mission.
Thanks Schefren, and Obama.
Hey Rich,
Excellent post and interesting comments following the post. You are right about marketing being the reason for Obama’s win. I think though, he marketed two products, the first being CHANGE, the American people wanted change and it didn’t much matter who offered it to them. The second was of course Obama himself. I personally am proud that we as Americans, have proven we can set aside any problems we had regarding to the color of one anothers skin and elect a Black American (I dislike the term African-American, especially for the person elected to to the top office in America, American should come first!) in fact, let’s just call him American, without reference to color, religion, favorite food or anything else. He will be sworn in as the President of the United States of America for crying out loud! I personally am a conservative republican, or as Liz commented above a poor and gullible person (I am neither). Obama’s marketing strategy was indeed brilliant, and that is what got him elected. It definitely wasn’t his political experience, and no, Harrold it wasn’t because he is black, even if all the most conservative minded black citizens voted for him it would not have been enough to get him elected. He did a bang up job of marketing to the masses. My concern now is that the change people wanted might come very close to socialism, and that, for this country, would be a change for the worse.
“How this happened”…
Why not let Barack Obama answer for himself?
——————————————————–
Message from Barack: “How this happened”
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 8:47pm
Before his Election Night speech last night,
Barack sent out this message to suppporters:
I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.
We just made history.
And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.
You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.
I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.
But I want to be very clear about one thing…
All of this happened because of you.
Thank you,
Barack
———————————————————
Cordialement
Joel Bomane from Sunny Sudden France
FIAT LUX
TEMPUS FUGIT
Whatever the reason for Obama’s victory, I am just so relieved that he will be the next president. The American voters made a far better choice than they did over the past two elections. With him in the White House the prospects for peace are far better than before. Over here in the UK people were ecstatic when the news came through!
Right on! I wondered when someone would notice that Obama is a great marketer. I love our new president elect by the way. He drew me in!
I think Obama won because McCain is too old, lots can happen in 4 years. The fear of getting Palin as the president was not tempting to the americans.
Rich
Yes I believe what you have to say is true. But one thing I feel that Obama was able to do, he was able to sale believability. He was able to make people believe in what he was saying. The same is true in the IM world. You can have a product that you are trying to sale, BUT if the people don’t believe in what you are saying they are not going to buy it. I don’t care how much marketing you do if you are not believable people are not going to buy your product. I get bombarded every day with emails from people on how they can make me rich if you just buy there product. So tell me Rich, who am I suppose to believe? Who out there in the IM market is selling BELIEVABILITY? Who out there is actually able to do what they say they can do?
How true indeed… marketing is the reason why a guy with (relatively) no experience makes it to the highest position in our land – the Presidency of the USA. Now let’s see what he does with it.
~Bill
Accelerator for Success
Fascinating comments…
Here’s my two cents and that’s exactly what they’re worth.
I agree that Obama had good marketing. He was packaged and sold just like breakfast cereal or a candy bar is to those wanting to lose weight but not give up sugar.
Chrisma in Obama I didn’t see it. All I saw was a militant black man who could barely keep his cool. Yes, the anchors kept gushing over how “cool” he was but I didn’t see it. I could tell by his body language and how tight his jaw muscles were during the debates just how difficult it was for him to keep his cool.
I think there are too many Jim Jones people out there who will jump on the bandwagon and drink the koolaide just because someone tells them it’s the thing to do. These are the same people who have the “get rich quick” mentality in the IM industry.
Still I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he won because of marketing and his savvy. I would agree with you on this IF he had won by a landslide. However, the fact is that even by out spending McCain 3 to 1, having the traditional media gush all over him, buying Hillary’s supporters — he still barely won the popular vote. It was almost 50/50.
Electoral votes has nothing to do with popular votes or what the population as a whole believes. In Missouri they’re still trying to decide who won. Many voters in states where votes were not counted yet when Obama was declared the winner aren’t too happy to realize their vote didn’t count.
If you take the time to study the maps they were showing during the election McCain was winning. There were more red than blue counties voting for him in each state.
Me, I personally don’t care. I figure one politician is as bad as the other. They’ll lie to your face and unashamedly bribe you for your vote and then do what’s in their best interest rather than yours. The gullible will always buy the “pretty glittery” object.
My point is that Obama is not a case study in successful social networking or marketing. He is in fact a case for failure. McCain ran a horrible and disorganized campaign and the media wrote him off prematurely just like they did Hillary. And yet, Obama with all of his support and money still couldn’t sell the public. He couldn’t “close the deal” with almost half the population.
At best it was a draw. Which is sad when you think about it. All that money and support against an opponent who couldn’t manage their funds or campaign, who’s own party wouldn’t support him, who had the media against him and the best Obama could do was a draw? It’s very sad.
Again, I’m talking popular vote not electoral.
Thank you Rich for your post!
While I also enjoyed reading the comments, most seem to have missed the point of your message.
It wasn’t necessarily Facebook, Twitter, Obama or the message. It was the PLAN. Obama knew what he wanted and from there back to the very beginning of his campaign he planned every step of the way.
Yes, his plan included a huge social marketing effort. Yes he inspired, he offered hope and change. All of that was part of a plan that he and his dedicated team and supporters (read affiliates) followed to the letter right up until, and including the day of the election.
That’s what Rich is offering in his CashMaps. A plan that you can follow from beginning to success. Building a plan and staying with it is not easy. It is the only way to assure your success.
This certainly makes a great example of the power of effective marketing through the net. Obama is spot on.
If I can be allowed a second comment:
I first got the feeling it was all over 5 minutes into the first debate. Obama came across as smooth, polished, “presidential”. McCain, whatever he said, came across as a stick figure. His limited motions, rather than reminding voters of what he suffered to uphold his and his country’s honor as a POW, made him LOOK stiff. His age, rather than reminding people of his experience, just made him look like the “old man”, as opposed to Obama’s “vigah”. You can see where this is going- policies didn’t matter, it was perception, and it was Kennedy vs. Nixon all over again. Since THAT election, appearance has meant far too much in the public’s perceptions of candidates, and how they vote, and meaty things such as policies and issues have meant far too little. From that debate on, McCain’s chances to win decreased significantly. In most viewer’s minds, Obama’s performance removed the issue of his inexperience, one of McCain’s strong arguments agaist Obama, from their sight
Nonetheless, had the economy not tanked until after the election, it would’ve been a far closer thing, not only in popular vote, but in electoral votes, too. Florida and Ohio probably would have stayed “blue”, and states such as Indiana never would have tipped. It wouuld’ve taken only one other big swing state to change from red to blue, such as Pennsylvania, and McCain would’ve been well over. Joe the Plumber would probably have been the October surprise that would have tipped the election, had not the economy crashed so badly. But once the economy crashed as badly as it did, McCain was a dead duck.
You can say al you want about marketing putting obama in the white house, but if it did it was the greatest feat ever. It would be like selling a product that has no use can do nothing for you and has no quallifications of use or existance before the producing of it. As for obama how could anyone sell him as a true American when he has stated that if it came down to it his loyalty would be to the Muslem relegion and Muslems, the last time I heard the american religon for most part was christianity But besides all that how could you sell a person so anti American to the public. Examples are he will not recognize the pledge fo allegance so how can he lead the country if he don’t beleave in it 2. he want’s to change the flag, unAmerican. 3. He wants to change the National Anthom, un American. He took the American flag off his plane, unAmerican. His wife could not find anything to be proud of America for until obama was choose to run for president, unAmerican so you see if marketing did this it was the greatest feat ever. Didn’t happen it was the black vote, from people that didn’t know anything about him as I stated in my earlier comment on 11-12-08. Someone told me to look for my cap’s lock when I wrote the comment they were left on to help see the truth, not a mistake thank you very much.
thanks harold
I think Barack Obama won because America was looking for a change. Bush has the lowest rating of any President…
Obama was able to link McCain to Bush.
All very interesting, but how come GWB got 50% of the vote twice in four years? Hardly any of the things mentioned in the above comments were or are true of him.
First of all America was (and is) tired of that bs that has been going on for years.
Then comes Obama, absolutely from different legue, so people gave him a chance.
Marketing was only a secondary technique.
Obama won because he is the best candidate for the position of President of the United States of America.
All the conspiracy theories and un-American statements he was suppose to have said, where fabricated. It’s called fear, fear from people who do not want to move forward and for the better.
Somehow, our wonderful Americans came through again and sensed, that in order to survive and succeed, we have to adapt to the change that is needed to meet the challenges that we will face.
Obama is just one person, it takes all of us to make this country work, we’re in good hands.
Life is organic and I hate to see us reduce something as serious as the election to just marketing, however, marketing was used and as Rich said, used smartly by the Obama campaign strategist. They got him noticed, they got people to listen and Obama delivered and was consistant with his message.
Raul
It’s now December 20. We’ve had more than a week of Pay to Play Blagoyovich (sic). I’ve been told from people who were Obama supporters and worked the polls in 2 states that Obama cheated by bussing in prisoners or illegal aliens to the polls to get them to vote for him. The margin was not that great in the popular vote. Is there any question in anyone’s mind that Obama cheated??????
I am a Chinese . I appreciate Barack Obama Very much . I do believe he will be a good president !
I’m still waiting to see what Jimmy Carter thinks before I decide. Always safest to think the opposite of him
Barrack Obama is a smart man, he knows that most american people use Internet and he take advantage over it by creating a song during the election time and spread it over the Youtube, myspace and may other popular site to take a sympathy and faith from the american people. A brilliant idea to become a president
:) Wow. nice arcticle
I have struggled on-line for many years to present a believable image to others.
What I witnessed with the Obama victory was marketing genius.
It has now been over a year since the election, and almost a year into the new (inclusive) Presidency, and what is the outcome?
The politics-as-usual atmosphere inside the D.C. beltway is even worse than it was perceived to be before. There is more Party polarity than ever. The R’s have been excluded from the business of government (whatever that is).
Over-all, the selections each made for V.P. were irrelevant to the outcome.
Pelosi and Reed must think they died and went to Heaven.
It will take more than one person to change the politics of D.C.
But I digress. Yes, it was marketing genius, but it was also FOCUS!
One of the things that separate the IM winners from the losers is just that-focus.
Obama stayed focused during the campaign, and McCain did not.
Isn’t that what Rich teaches?