For at least a week now, I've been watching the bloggers formulate their thoughts on the campaign strategies and marketing techniques and what won (and lost) campaigns this political season. Hindsight had started long before I even got my "I voted" sticker.
Today, my friend Joe Borgstrom beat me to the punch (stop doing that already!) and wrote pretty eloquently on the topic to his Michigan downtown constituents. Check it out (and not because he gave us props in his post).
The bottom line – like him or not, President-elect Obama did a phenomonal job using new media/social technologies to activate, motivate, communicate at every moment of his campaign…right to the end. He used web sites (plural – think niche), e-mail marketing, social media (like Facebook), text messages and more to earn favor and make sure the vote was cast. His was a marketing machine case study that we should all learn from and mimic – because his was the machine that decisively led to success, to the win. Isn't that what you want for your business, your downtown, your community?
Here are some of my personal favorites from different points of view the past few days regarding all things Obama marketing:
Barack Obama: Entrepreneur-elect from Entrepreneur.com. What a great commentary here on how Obama ran like an entrepreneur and left behind lessons that we as small business owners should make sure we apply.
How Will President Obama Use His Massive Social Media Influence? from Mashable.com. A great look back and the castle he's built with social media – and really cool suggestions as to how he could use it while in the White House. Are there ideas here for you? I think so.
Obama's Social Media Advantage from ReadWriteWeb.com. Some cool charts, lots of links to the stats – its the comparison in plain view of McCain and Obama. Eye-opening and challenging. If you haven't been believing me that you can take on competition by playing the technology card (which I might remind you is the CHEAPER marketing alternative) – wake up and look at the case study that has played out in our national lives the past 18 months.
Seth's Marketing Lessons from the US Election – Best for last. Hands down. You know I'm a fan – and you better read up and what else can I say – start implementing people! Don't just think about it – start doing this stuff called social media.
