A Universal Marketing Truth

As a colleague of Kathleen Shanahan’s at BOCA Communications, I decided it was high time that she stopped having all the fun on our blog. That said, I’m writing my first – and hopefully not last - BOCA post.

My inspiration came from a book I’m reading as well as an interaction Barack Obama had yesterday with Henrietta Hughes. The book, “The New Rules of Marketing & PR,” in spite of its name, also brings to mind one of the age-old “rules” of marketing: the need to demonstrate understanding of your customer’s “pain” AND offer solutions rather than merely promoting your product. Interestingly, as I read this passage, I was reminded of something I saw on TV only an hour earlier.

As anyone knows who has been following the news, Barack Obama has been on the road in an effort to “sell” his stimulus package directly to the American public. During a Q&A in Ft. Myers Florida, a woman by the name of Henrietta Hughes – who recently became homeless - gave Obama a heart-felt plea to provide assistance to people like her and the country at large. Obama – quite naturally – showed what appeared to be sincere empathy and even gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. At that moment, it became clear to me that Obama – as one who has something to sell – truly understands this fundamental rule of marketing: with intense competition (the Republican members of Congress), Obama knows that he has to address how his product (the stimulus package) will solve the very real needs of his customers (the American public.)

Ironically, during the campaign, one of the few knocks on Obama’s political skills was a supposed inability to show that he understood his customers’ pain. Like all good marketers, Obama has demonstrated he’s learned this lesson well.