What Marketers Can Learn From Donald Trump

How the president-elect sold himself to the American public may not seem to have much at all to do with marketing in the B2B space. But a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly points out that Trump was simply following the well-known formula of any successful marketer: Pick a media that you can dominate to generate massive brand awareness.

Media and marketing consultant Jerry Cave, who was interviewed for the article, spoke highly of Trump’s shrewd choice of media. Instead of picking TV advertising, the default choice for most political candidates, Trump turned to a radical approach: The editorial part of television.

“He knows that Hillary is going to have $700 million of it [advertising dollars], and the PACs are going to have another $300 million. So he would need to raise $1 billion to compete to reach parity. Why spend a billion for parity where he can spend less and be dominant?,” said Cave, in the article.. “He can own the editorial part because he’s a master at live TV and willing to be on it morning, noon, and night.”

By choosing two other areas they could dominate–social media and live events—Cave says the Trump Campaign ensured that a win was almost inevitable, an outcome any B2B marketer would most certainly love to achieve.

Read the full article here.