Marketing Lessons from the Campaign Trail: If You Don’t give ‘em What They Want, Your Competition Will

Everyone knows that the Democratic primaries were contentious between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. As we are fully aware, Obama has become the Democratic nominee. In the thick of it all, hundreds of thousands of Hillary supporters were left feeling angry or resentful about the whole nomination process and felt Hillary was slighted and treated unfairly. In the end, many Hillary supporters were hoping and praying that there would have been a last-hour miracle announcing Hillary as Obama’s VP choice but were disappointed again when a male politician, Joe Biden, was selected.

For weeks, the big brouhaha has been Hillary supporters wanted Hillary on the ticket with Obama. These “18 million” supporters are needed by the Obama camp to win against the Republicans. However, despite knowing that (a) they need these Hillary-Democrats and (b) putting Hillary on the ticket would help heal the rift in the Democratic party, Obama’s camp chose Joe Biden.

While I have my own personal opinions about how this whole Obama-Hillary saga has gone down, I am not here to complain or analyze this political tale. Need the melodrama? Then turn the news onto any channel and you’ll get a 24×7 dosage of political drama plus endless chatter and analysis.

But nope, not here. For the purpose of this marketing misfit blog post, I want to look upon this Obama-Hillary story not with political eyes but rather from a business and marketing perspective. We now know how the Democratic primary episode has ended: Obama’s the presidential nominee and Hillary is not. Joe Biden is the VP candidate and Hillary is not.

If this story were to have played out in the business world, the Obama-Biden machine would have, despite their best intentions, shot themselves in the foot. Only in politics, it would seem, can the head of a movement or leaders of an organization ignore the specific needs and wants of the very folks it needs the most support from.

In sharp contrast, if the Obama-Biden ticket had been a corporation or an association that blatantly ignored the needs and wants of its customers or membership base, I can guarantee you that “Obama-Biden, Inc.” would have succeeded in negatively impacting far more than just their bottom line.

In business and in marketing, NOT giving customers what they want is, essentially, a recipe for death. Worse, by ignoring your customer’s needs or wants, you are actively rolling out the red carpet and sending clients directly to your competition’s doorstep.

Additionally, it allows your competition to fulfill the very void your lack of action or response created. This is exactly what we’ve seen in the case of John McCain’s camp, which purposefully pounced on the lost Democratic opportunity to attract the disaffected Democratic women voters by placing Governor Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket.

As marketers, we must always remember to listen to what clients, customers and prospects are saying about their needs and wants. We must listen to the voices of our clients. We must take into consideration the feedback and input from our prospects. And we must be responsive to every incoming call, comment or inquiry — no matter how small or insignificant or how grand or difficult. Because there is so more is at stake besides future sales — like our reputation, market position and perception and brand stake — it is imperative for marketers at all times to not pull an “Obama.”

Remember, marketing budgets are not replenished year after year from tax dollars. Revenue generated from sales to existing customers is what keeps our marketing programs alive, year after year.

Sometimes, you can learn a lot about marketing do’s and don’ts from real life scenarios, and this campaign trail saga surely underscores that when you don’t give ‘em what they want, you can guarantee with almost 100% certainty that your competitors will.