FOX Business host Larry Kudlow says former President Trump’s performance was ‘masterful’ on ‘Kudlow’.
Over 51 million people watched the “CEOs” of America’s most powerful political parties take the stage for 90 minutes. They debated about politics, personalities and the future of the country.
And 60 seconds after the cameras rolled, so did the rest of the country — to the throngs of surrogates and campaign proxies who flooded cable TV, social media and traditional news outlets with insights, spin and talking points.
Yes, it was politics. But it was also the same replacement strategy used by savvy CEOs every day — and one of many lessons executives can learn from presidential campaigns.
ANTI-TRUMP LEADERSHIP OF BUSINESS GROUPS NOW BIDDEN SENIOR BIDEN OUT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
1. Find good substitutes
To dig deeper into replacement strategy, although CEOs often take center stage in front of the cameras or on conference stages, they also often assign Chief Technology Officers to lead technical webinars, Chief Operating Officers to coordinate salespeople and managers regional to give speeches. at local community events. That’s because CEOs know they aren’t always the best people to communicate critical messages to stakeholders with different interests.
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump attend CNN’s Presidential Debate at CNN Studios on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
2. Forget your critics
CEOs and presidential candidates also ignore irrelevant critics—politicians because they only need 50.1% of voters to achieve victory and companies because only the right consumers need to go through the sales funnel.
Look at Five Guys, which ignores the media headlines for its expensive burgers and rocks because fans keep coming back. And when Trader Joe’s was asked to change the names of its ethnic foods in 2020, its response was simple: We listen to customers, not random searchers. Customers are still pulling Trader José off the shelves
3. Know your audience
Audiences that matter, on the other hand, take the lion’s share of resources. Former President Donald Trump obsessively addressed the most pressing concerns of undecided voters — immigration and the economy — and blew up a question about climate change.
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Likewise, Domino’s does not concern itself with elite grocers, instead investing all of its operational and marketing strategies in price-conscious consumers. Money that could have been wasted on excess ingredients is instead invested in an award-winning app, fast delivery times, and promotions like giving customers a $3 coupon just for tipping the delivery driver.
Economists Steve Moore and Liz Peek provide their economic perspective as President Biden and former President Trump appeal to Americans on ‘The Bottom Line.’
4. Marketing matters
And the promotion doesn’t end once the customer has the coupon or the dispute is over. Domino’s invests heavily in media marketing and media coverage so that those who don’t yet know about coupons start looking for them. Campaigns know this, too — see how the Republican National Committee used Biden’s “beat Medicare” comments for an Instagram video, or how Biden used clips from his rally in North Carolina to make a new ad.
Instead of separating the social media team from the video team and data scientists, campaigns integrated them all without wasted effort or unnecessary duplication. And the result is multiple pieces of content that were seamlessly built and distributed to multiple target audiences with none, all aimed at moving more people into that voter funnel.
5. Build trust
At the heart of a campaign and a company is a strategy that earns the trust and goodwill of the target audience well in advance of election day or purchase time. That’s why the Trump and President Joe Biden campaigns spent weeks setting expectations for a 90-minute debate and the narratives behind the debate. And we saw how Trump benefited. His disciplined message shattered many people’s expectations, especially compared to Biden’s many setbacks and misstatements.
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CEOs and presidential candidates also ignore irrelevant critics—politicians because they only need 50.1% of voters to achieve victory and companies because only the right consumers need to go through the sales funnel.
That reservoir of confidence may be what’s keeping Boeing in the air, despite years of manufacturing problems that have cost lives, resulted in fines and — as of this week — threatened with a Justice Department lawsuit. It has decades of unparalleled service to the US government and airlines worldwide.
It’s easy for hard-working, successful CEOs to look at politicians and want nothing to do with them. But at their core, political campaigns are simply billion-dollar machines, sales funnels, trying to win business in the form of votes. That’s why CEOs looking to expand market share through improved communications strategies need to start thinking like politicians … for as long as they can stand it.
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