What Politics Can Teach About Promoting Your Business

It’s August 2015, six months away from the presidential primaries and over a year away from the general election, yet the media airwaves and water cooler talk are filled with speculation about Donald Trump. (This early on, it’s generally only the political diehards like me who are paying attention!)

As I was preparing to appear on Fox35 Orlando yesterday and pondering Trump’s popularity, I kept coming back to the idea that Trump’s campaign is the culmination of our cultural fascination with reality television and celebrities.

What makes great TV? Why is Trump resonating with voters? Why are people tired of the establishment politicians?

The answers below apply not only to politics and media, but can reveal how you can better promote your business.

1. Be predictably unpredictable.

Networks like having Trump on their shows because he dramatically increases viewers and ratings (and thus ad dollars). The FOX News debate a couple of weeks ago had 24 million viewers, a 6-8 fold increase over a typical primary debate that sees 3-6 million viewers.

Why do people like to watch Trump? Because he’s predictably unpredictable.

We know he’s going to say something outlandish, but we’re not quite sure what until he says it, so we keep watching.

Now, in your business, I’m not advocating for you to take political positions, be controversial for the sake of being controversial, or call people names.

Think about how you can imbue your business, your product, your service, your marketing with a bit of surprise.

Too many times, I see entrepreneurs struggle with how to differentiate themselves in their marketplace. Their often unconscious instinct is to be a “me too” and offer something similar to others in their industry.

The problem is that customers have no way to determine why they should choose you over the more established company you’re now competing with.

How can you be predictably unpredictable?

Create content that is not vanilla cookie cutter. Show your personality and your company’s culture.

Experiment with different channels: Periscope is an excellent way to connect with your audience authentically and naturally.

Maintain an element of surprise.

On Periscope or Facebook, one day you could do a live Q&A, another day talk about what’s wrong in your industry and how you’re addressing it to better help your customers, and on yet another day surprise the live participants with a giveaway.

Don’t be afraid to shake things up and share what you think, which leads me to…

2. Have a defined point of view.

I’ve been a Democratic political analyst on local TV news, off and on, for the past 10 years.

I learned early on that the news producers appreciate that I have a defined point of view, I do my research and prepare, and I know how to get my point across succinctly and with a verbal punch.

Why do voters like candidates like Trump? Because he has a defined point of view (on certain issues, at least) and doesn’t hold back from saying what he thinks.

Don’t be wishy-washy on the issues that matter most to you and your customers.

Take a stand for your customers. Take a stand on what’s going on in your industry – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Take a stand for why you do what you do and what matters to you.

3. Be consistent.

Along with taking a stand and having a defined point of view is being consistent with your core beliefs and values.

You know those politicians who seem to change their stance as the political winds shift? One week they’re against something and the next they’re for it.

That lack of consistency can oftentimes be perceived as a character flaw or calculated opportunism.

We don’t want to vote for people when we’re not sure how they’re going to act once they’re in office (which is why Trump’s popularity will decline as we get closer to the primaries).

Similarly, we don’t want to do business with people who flit from idea to idea or say one thing and do another. This is the part of unpredictability you don’t want.

Your core values should be the opposite of unpredictable. You should be able to write them in stone.

Your core values should be so obvious to everyone you deal with that when people think of you, those particular adjectives come to mind.

Of course, we all evolve and change as we learn and experience new things. It’s fine (and preferred) to be open-minded and be willing to change your opinion.

However, the way you do business and treat your customers reflects your core set of values – honesty, accountability, excellence – which shouldn’t change over time.

Being unpredictable in your marketing and promotions (#1 above) is entirely different than being unpredictable with who you are and what your business represents.

Take the best of what politics has to offer for promoting your business:

→ Know your values and stick to them.

→ Be clear and consistent with what you stand for.

→ And don’t forget to add some fun, delight, and surprise.