Around this time last year, I remember laughing out loud at this image:
Last night there wasn’t any laughing at all.
This morning as I drove to work I kept asking myself the same question over and over: how exactly did Donald Trump win this election? I recalled the image and remembered that a year ago, while funny and original, I believed the image had some truth in it: there was indeed a real chance that Trump would win the election, despite a large amount of people being sure he wouldn’t and who now may feel despondent at the outcome of the elections.
Last night as I felt the enlightenment, I realized Trump won not because he is a good politician, but because he is an excellent marketer and an excellent salesman. Trump not only gave a political lesson, he taught a few important Sales and Marketing mastery life-lessons:
1. Have a brand and a slogan
I never really understood why Hillary didn’t have a strong catchy slogan. Her taciturn nature needed something to boost her through the crowds. Trump on the other hand from day one, engraved four words in the American minds that became synonymous of what he believed in. “Make America Great Again.”
Whatever Trump could say or do, it didn’t really matter, because all anyone could think of whenever his name was brought up were the words “Make America Great Again.” You could read them on his Twitter, his Facebook, his caps, hats, posters, podiums, over and over non-stop. Trump also backed up his slogan with his brand name: TRUMP, which you see in all his real estate developments. So how could one not associate TRUMP with Make America Great Again?
Trump’s slogan ameliorated his campaign. In contrast, Hillary had nothing. The lesson to be learned here is that one must have a slogan. What derives come it is my next point…
2. Have a slogan with a meaning… even if it isn’t true!
The first time read the words “Make America Great Again”, I thought to myself: “America already is the greatest country on the planet. Why is Trump talking about making it Great Again? It’s already great.” But to some people’s reality, it wasn’t -even if it was a reality invented by a mendacious politician.
Today November 9th, there is no doubt in my mind that America is the greatest country on the planet. However, Trump’s slogan achieved what seemed impossible: it made 59 million people believe that America is not the greatest country on the planet, and more importantly, it made them believe that Trump is the one person that is able to change that reality and make America the greatest nation on Earth.
The is no nation on the planet that is greater than the United States of America. Yet somehow Trump deceived almost 60 million people, that some other nation in the world IS the greatest nation on Earth (or at least, greater than the US). Which nation is it? Well, Trump never actually mentioned it. And that’s the beauty of his slogan. He said his slogan, he repeated his slogan, he wore his slogan, he breathed his slogan.
He made a masteful use of a red herring, by giving a logical fallacy that led people toward a non-existent fact.
3. Promise, with no actual plan.
If you’ve seen that masterpiece of Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart, “It’s a wonderful life” you’ll probably remember one of George Bailey’s most iconic quotes:
“What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll give you the moon, Mary. ”
The scene is memorable because surely there is absolutely no way someone can throw a lasso around the moon and pull it down. George Bailey is being romantic. All that he wants is Mary’s love. In order to conquer her, he devises several ideas, including dancing with her, visiting her, being nice to her, and offering her to pull down the moon with a lasso. Of course, there is absolutely no way Mary will want the Moon to be pulled down to her. She just wants to hear those pretty words, and imagine -even if it is for one minute- how beautiful would the Moon look in front of her as George had pulled it down for her.
One of Trump first promises was as astounding as George’s Moon pull-down: “If I get elected, I’m going to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, and I’ll make Mexico pay for it,” During the entirety of the presidential campaign, not one person confronted, questioned or directly asked Trump, how is he planning to build the wall, and more importantly, how is he planning on making Mexico pay for it. There were some vague questions here and there, but never a direct confrontation seeking a direct answer from him. He just kept repeating the same thing over and over: “We’ll build the wall, and Mexico will pay for it.”
59 million Americans, heard Trump’s words and imagined how beautiful the wall would look on the US-Mexico border.
4. Sometimes taking the high road doesn’t work.
In the early 90s, there was a point where the console wars between Nintendo and Sega got really nasty. During the peak of the NES’ popularity, and the birth of the Genesis -Sega’s new console- Sega launched a very aggressive marketing campaign that featured a really great slogan: “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.” It was quite effective because in four words, it praised the capabilities of the new 16-bit Genesis, while degrading the capabilities of the 8-bit Nintendo”
During one of the debates between Hillary and Trump, when referring to the disrespectul tone Trump used on her, Hillary responded by saying “when they go low, we go high”, alluring to Trump’s insults and degrading comments. Apparently, Hillary doesn’t know that in politics, sometimes taking the high road doesn’t work. Her classy act got old really fast and Trump sticked to going low all through the campaign. He was relentless and never paused for breathing. Hillary on the other hand, had her chances to go low and attack Trump, but she missed them or chose not to capitalize on them.
5. There is no such thing as bad publicity.
This one is quite simple. Trump:
- Insulted Vietnam veterans
- Insulted Iraq veterans
- Insulted LGBT
- Insulted muslims
- Insulted latins
- Insulted women
- Insulted, insulted, insulted and kept insulting.
Then, he…
- Was discovered saying he “grabbed women by the pussy”
- Lied about paying taxes
- Bragged about not paying taxes
- Bragged about lying about not paying taxes
- Bragged about buying Chinese workforce and manufacturing.
and still, with all this said and done, 59 million Americans, voted for him.
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These are the five of the main reasons why Trump won this election. Overall, he did exactly what he promised to: he never became a politician. All he did was run a one-year Master’s in Sales and Marketing. And he graduated with honors.
HR
