"Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!" Isn't A Really Great Sales Strategy! Or, Political One For That Matter!

One area of work that I don't always publicize as much as I need to is the work I have done over the years in politics and advocacy, but as we have been seeing the implications of the Donald Trump presidency on the United States' at home and abroad, I've been watching and thinking about the actions of both parties and how they can or should react to the actions and "disruption" that Trump has brought to the White House.

Having been responsible for many of the ads that helped a number of Democrats win elections in 2012, 2013, and 2014, I've got a pretty keen eye for what works and what doesn't work.

Couple that with the work I have done performing marketing and community building activities for huge brands around the globe like American Express, Yellow Tail Wines, and Odwalla, and to say I have a keen eye for smart or poor marketing is an understatement.

That being said, I've been pretty aghast at some of the more flat footed responses that Democrats have made in response to the Donald Trump campaign and candidacy.

My hope was that the Democrats would have learned some valuable lessons, but I'm not sure that is going to happen.

With lesson number one being that you can't just stand against something, you have to stand for something.

Politics, just like marketing, or any other business for that matter, is a business built on storytelling. With people bringing their worldviews to any interaction they have with you and your product or service or candidate. And, with your job as the marketer to find a way to tell a story about your product that fits into the potential market's worldview.

Which is why standing for something is so important.

Because if you are only fighting against someone else, you are playing the mental positioning game on someone else's predefined turf.

That's why now that I have begun to get solicitation emails from the Virginia legislative races, I have a hard time holding in my frustrations because so much of what is contained in these emails is the kind of retread strategy, retread ideas, and lack of vision that put Democrats in the position to be almost gerrymandered out of power in the first place.

Let's take a look at a typical Democratic solicitation email and let's see what's wrong and what we can do to fix it.

"Dear Dave, 

Richmond keeps playing with tea party politics while our students pay the price. Delegate Scott Lingamfelter has voted for bills that would cut our public funding for schools, and he stands with Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration's priorities in Washington. After having one of the closest races in 2015, I'm excited to come back and run again to stop the Trump-Lingamfelter agenda.

Can I count on you to give my campaign a contribution of $10, $25, $50, or $100 today to help stop Trump and Lingamfelter's reckless agenda for our schools?

There aren't many teachers in Richmond and I'm excited to have the chance to join their ranks in the General Assembly after this election. We need to make sure educators have a voice in our legislation so we can advocate for our students and their families.

Stop the Trump-Lingamfelter agenda and contribute today!

Thanks for fighting, and let's make them hear us in Richmond,

Sara

P.S. Join Team Townsend by contributing now!"

What do you have to say about this?

I mean I know that I see Twitter and I see all of the tweets from people that say that most Democratic fundraising emails have a certain hair on fire tendency. And, I am going to bet that they also have extremely low open rates, click rates, and other measures of success that don't rely strictly on activities.

I'd love to know the actual numbers if anyone in my contacts has that information, please share it. I'll keep your name out of this.

So what works?

First, at least they got my name right. Since I know that they bought a list with my name on it. At least they got my name right.

Second, it is relatively short.

That's really about it.

Let's flip it around and let's look at the areas where this email is deficient.

First, it is entirely "me" focused. There is only one point when the focus turns towards the receiver, when they are asking for money. That's bad marketing. That's bad fundraising. That's bad from start to finish.

Second, again, there isn't anything about what or why Sara is running for delegate in Virginia and why that should matter to me.

Third, what difference does it make that you ran a close race previously? How have you learned from your past experience? How or why will this time be different?

Finally, why throw tons and tons of different dollar amounts in there. Consumer psychology 101 tells us pretty clearly that if you give people too many choices that the easiest choice of all is to just say "no."

Is there some vision that she can share outside of she isn't a Tea Party believer and she isn't a Republican?

I mean even the part about being a teacher and an advocate for education is so soft it feels like white bread when you read it.

This goes on and on and on in this email. And, I am betting or guaranteeing that these kinds of emails are going out in every district in Virginia.

And, when you look at this stuff and know that this constitutes campaign best practices, is it any wonder why people hate politics, Democrats lose elections, and turnout in these elections is incredibly low?

But enough about that...let's look at fixing this stuff.

First, let's rewrite the email:

"Dave-

If you are like me, you are alarmed at the path to destruction for our public schools that Donald Trump and Betsey DeVos have set for our children in Washington.

As a middle school teacher, I recognize that our children need elected officials at all levels fighting for their best interests and not just looking for convenient ways to funnel them into for-profit schools.

That's why I'm running for delegate. Because the children of our state need someone to put their futures first and win support for policies that will:

• Help decrease overcrowding!
• Improve our ability to recruit and keep the best teachers!
• Bring the skills and courses into VA schools that will make our state a hub of the 21st Century economy!

Can I count on your donation to help me reach Richmond? (Donate)

Sara"

What do you think?

Better or worse than the original?

What did we do here?

First, I started out by framing the conversation. It isn't enough to be against something. You have to have something you believe in. That starts at the beginning. Draw a clear distinction between them and you, you don't have to be overwrought. You can just say, "look this is bad stuff."

Second, put another frame on why this is important to you. Sara is a teacher. She's familiar with the challenges of public schools. This paragraph also draws a clear distinction between Sara and her opponent. It actually frames her opponent as someone that is going to take advantage of kids.

Third, let's talk about your vision a little bit. Again, not to belabor the point, but you need to stand for something. Anything! You can't just be against everything or everyone else.

That's what this paragraph is all about.

We talk about why Sara is running and what she wants to accomplish.

Finally, we get to the Call To Action. One CTA that is specific and relevant.

I know for a fact that many political email firms and strategists push the idea of multiple CTAs because they have some BS data that says the more CTAs you cram into an email, the more likely you are to get a response.

But I am going to tell you from a business standpoint, that one specific CTA is always more effective than 2, 3, 4 half assed ones.

On a larger score, this email highlights a lot of the issues that are playing out in politics and the Democratic Party in general.

First, it is a lack of strategy.

If you read the original email, you see that Sara has absolutely no strategy or plan for why she is sending out this email and making the ask.

Its probably just something that seems easy for her and her team. Kind of like throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping some of it sticks.

This same problem played itself out in so many areas in the 2016 election.

If it wasn't the 86 different slogans that Hillary Clinton tested to figure out what her vision and slogan should be. It was the 400,000 simulations that the campaign was using each day to figure out where and how to allocate resources.

In all of these cases, we see a strong lack of strategy.

As I have spoken and written about at length, strategy comes down to 3 things:

• What's your value or vision for the future and how you will help your prospects?
• Who is my buyer? Voter?
• How do I reach them effectively?

In the case of a political campaign, you have a few more decisions to make, but it should always fold back onto these few concepts.

Second, innovation is almost a dirty word.

Sure, everyone has "data" and websites and other technologies.

But the basic concepts and business model of a campaign have not changed much over the years. The same frustrations I had working on the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004 are the same frustrations that I felt watching the Clinton/Kaine campaign in 2016, just with more algorithms and emails.

The truth is that any business needs to innovate. They need to constantly be testing their basic assumptions about their business, about how they reach and communicate with their audience, and how to turn these things into the necessary action or actions.

Finally, messaging matters.

Message is right up there with strategy.

I know that so many people on the Democratic side like to think or say that we can tell stories or we don't have a messaging problem.

But the results show pretty clearly that you are incorrect to say that.

It is easy to say that all Republican voters are "deplorable," "racist," or "stupid."

And, I am sure that if we are being honest with ourselves, the same accusations can be made about any group if you dig deep enough.

The other truth is likely that even if that is the case, how much of a percentage of the population is that really?

Blanket accusations and blanket condemnations may make you feel good and may soothe you, but do they help you get any closer to your goal?

No.

If you are trying to win elections and convert people to your ideas, you have to have powerful stories and stories that drive people to act.

That's the biggest issue that I see over and over in Democratic politics, this overarching belief that the "idea" is going to win and that if you don't believe the same things, you are wrong.

The challenge here is that it fails to address the fact that even when we agree on something, we probably agree for slightly different reasons. Which is why stories and messaging are so important. They take something that we all agree on and frame it in a way that all of us can get behind.

What say you? Am I way off base?