Marketing lessons Hillary left out

On Monday evening, January 16, we enjoyed a fascinating, personal story by Kirsten Verdel, who was the first foreigner ever to sit at the national headquarters of an American presidential campaign team. With Trump’s inauguration just around the corner and the upcoming elections in the Netherlands, the topic was more topical than ever: what can marketing companies and organizations learn from political campaigns? Kirsten gave us a unique insight into the organization and operation of American presidential campaigns. A process where the dialogue with the potential voter is already started four years before the election date!

Stick to your message
The first step is: what is your goal? Next: who do you need to achieve it? And what message fits that? Kirsten indicated that “stick to your message” is the most important lesson. Always repeat your message 3 times in every speech or press release. Journalists prey on the moment when you say something slightly different because you have said the same thing so many times before. Don’t be tempted to do that.

Be prepared
Furthermore, it is enormously important to be prepared for all possible scenarios. If anything untrue was claimed about Obama, the right information was on hand to feed journalists immediately to debunk the claims. Consequently, this often happened during a live broadcast.

1 on 1 contact makes the difference
The Obama campaign team was able to increase the amount of information from each potential voter from 37 to more than 1,000 things per person. This made it possible to focus on each voter and to visit the most promising neighborhoods for canvassing. An important part of this is to let them have their say so that we can respond to what they feel is important. The first visit is to “send” a story. Then they visit again to ask something, so that the potential voter feels they have influence. And the third time one asks “if one is going to vote anyway?”. Then the feeling is built up that the other person has put in so much effort that something must be done in return. By the way, enthusiastic people were also asked if they wanted to participate. For Obama’s campaign, as a result, as many as 8 million people eventually committed themselves.

Where did Hillary leave it?
Hillary Clinton’s team trusted that traditionally Democratic states would vote for her anyway. It was precisely by omitting the 1-on-1 contact with these voters that Trump unexpectedly gained opportunities. Too bad, since the lessons of Obama’s successful campaign could simply have been used.

The marketers present sparred with each other about how these lessons can be translated to their own field of work. All in all, a hugely inspiring and educational evening, as the reactions of the participants showed. Thanks Kirsten and attendees!

About the speaker
Kirsten Verdel is known for her role as Barack Obama’s staffer in his campaign for the 2008 US presidential election. About this she wrote the successful book “From Rotterdam to the White House”. She was involved in campaigns in municipal, Upper and Lower House, Provincial and Presidential elections and was herself a member of the States. She published about the elections for the Financieele Dagblad and Vrij Nederland and is a regular guest at PAUW, EenVandaag, BNR and Radio 1, among others. She is a senior advisor at Dröge & van Drimmelen.