DONALD TRUMP AND MARKETING 101

Donald Trump has certainly stirred up plenty of controversy in his run-up to the election and his first few days as president.  His rhetoric attracted a large number of ardent followers and just as many opponents.  Trump’s policy declarations have typically been lacking detail – “trust me’ just isn’t a well laid out policy.

We typically heard sound bites that left me and many others wondering what he could possibly be thinking.  What exactly was he planning, how would it be accomplished?  From a marketing perspective, I thought he was a disaster.

Some of his ‘policies’  became a lot clearer to me when a friend posted on Facebook an article by George Friedman, who is chairman of Geopolitical Futures and writes extensively on global politics.  In his article ‘Donald Trump Has a Coherent, Radical Foreign Policy Doctrine’, he decodes Trump’s statements.  For example:

•  NATO obsolete?   Security interests are now primarily outside of Europe and NATO has no obligation, or inclination, to assist the US in the Middle East or other non-European areas. 

• Russia as an ally?  Russia has security issues with terrorism, as does the US.  There is common interest and a need to work together to defeat terrorism.

• The end of Multilateral Trade pacts?  The primary economic need of the United States is jobs. The goal of aggregate growth of an economy without regard to societal consequences is no longer acceptable. The terms under which most international trade agreements have been structured are now unacceptable.

While Friedman may not totally agree with Trump, he has ‘decoded’ the sometimes incoherent Trump rhetoric.  It is easier to understand where Trump is coming from once you read the article.

And this got me to thinking about the 4Cs of marketing communication developed by David Jobber and John Fahy in their book ‘Foundations of Marketing’ (2009):

• Clarity – the need for a clear idea and a simple message

• Consistency – a consistent message to break through the noise (myriad of communications

• Credibility – The idea must be credible in your customers’ minds

• Competitiveness – the idea needs a competitive edge

How would I grade Donald Trump on the 4Cs?

Clarity – B. President Trump used simple messaging – ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Build that Wall’ – to rally a large percentage of the public.  It was strong and simple – one that half the electorate grasped and accepted.  But I can’t give him an ‘A’.  Once you dug into his rhetoric, there wasn’t a lot of detail.  Communicating complex ideas to a mass audience is very difficult, but you have to be prepared to answer with the details when challenged.

Consistency – C.  ‘Make America Great Again’ is a very effective slogan that resonated with many Americans.  It was well executed – put on ball caps, shirts, signage and repeated in Trump’s speeches.  But he was also consistent in derogatory nicknames for his opponents – ‘Lyin’ Ted Cruz’, ‘Little Marco’, ‘Crooked Hillary’ – that for many of us made him seem nasty and petty.  And his Twitter attacks – Meryl Streep overrated?  SNL not funny? – show a lack of discipline and detract from his mission.

Credibility – F.  Making claims that can easily be debated or readily refuted destroy any message and raise a question of integrity.  Claiming more than a million attended the inauguration when personal observation and photographic evidence shows otherwise?  Making it an issue?  Why go down that rat hole?  Just another example of why so many people question Trump’s veracity.

Competitiveness – A.  Even if you dislike him, you have to admit Trump took a position that appealed to millions of voters.  That positioning – the need to ‘drain the swamp’, extreme moves to strengthen the borders, etc. – clearly differentiated himself from all others.  It was a positioning that no one else could (or wanted to) contest.  Any marketer would like to stake out a positioning that no competitor could infringe upon.

There are a lot of things NOT to like about Donald Trump and his failing grade in Credibility would an insurmountable issue to most brands.  But I would have to give him a passing grade.  After all, he did win.