Let me tell you about the Hillary Clinton I know. The first time I remember meeting her was at a political rally in 1978 when the future president was running for governor. Oh – by future president, I’m talking about Bill. Or, maybe I should say there were a couple of future presidents there!.
She was 29, had been married to Bill for less than two years and had joined the prestigious Little Rock Rose Law Firm just a year earlier. And, she was a 70’s hippy! Well, in appearance. Hillary had long, flowing hair and was wearing an ankle-length, long, flowing dress. Big glasses almost distorted the windows to her soul.
At the time, I was executive secretary to a member of then-governor David Pryor’s cabinet. There were about a dozen executive secretaries in all of Arkansas state government at the time, and we got together once a month to share ideas, learn from one another and, on occasion, sit at the feet of a learned guest speaker.
The second time I met Hillary Clinton, she was guest speaker at our monthly meeting, and she would have knocked my socks off had I opted for something other than pantyhose.
That night I told Larry, “I just met the smartest woman I’ve ever known.”
That super intelligence and ability to speak eloquently had certainly been masked by my original thought of her being a hippy. Now would be a great time to throw in one of the world’s oldest clichés. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover – but we all do!
Have you ever heard of eyeliner, mascara, blush, powder, lip gloss and hundreds of other enhancements people use to better market themselves? Larry converted a bedroom into a giant walk-in closet to handle the shoes and purses that match my outfits. It’s marketing – pure and simple marketing.
During her time as First Lady of Arkansas, Hillary became a marketing expert, and that led to her becoming America’s First Lady and, very possibly, America’s first female president.
What Can We Learn From Hillary?
Marketing! Successful marketing requires two components: the correct market, and the correct appeal to that market.
Regardless of what you currently think about Hillary Clinton, she discovered the correct market and the correct appeal to that market.
What about product value, price, promotion and distribution? Value and promotion certainly outweigh price and distribution, though P & D are becoming more important in today’s economy.
I bought an eBook entitled The Internet Adventures of Stupidman because it was priced right and promoted well – and I needed a laugh. Well, the laugh was on me because it was the most useless and unfunny humor book I’ve ever read. In fact, you probably should buy it as an example of trash you can sell on the Internet. Click here to read the promotional material.
Come to think of it, I am quite surprised some enterprising Democrat hasn’t published The Whitehouse Adventures of Stupidman. Trust me; the market grows larger and larger every day. The Republican Party has forgotten to…
Define Your Market
And not just the Republicans: the Democrats are equally in the dark about defining their market. Gays, lesbians, religious groups, right wing, left wing, investors, educators, labor unions, corporations, small businesses, the Middle Class – each is a market.
Remember how George Bush went after the NASCAR crowd? That was smart. What buying sector comprises your market? Who is most likely to purchase your product? George Bush was born with a silver spoon, attended a prep school before going to Harvard and being inducted into the exclusive Skull and Bones society. How many of the NASCAR crowd was raised like that?
Yes he became their candidate of choice. Karl Rove knew about marketing. He knew how to take an unrelated product and make it appeal to a market segment – just like the guy that sold me that stupid eBook.
You found this article because you were searching for information about marketing…or you accidentally ran across it because of the title. It is written for the marketing market segment.
Define Your Appeal
The appeal or promise is the headline. What drew you to this article? Was it Hillary Clinton’s name? Was it the enticement that she might know something about marketing? Did you think you might learn something from an article with that title? Did you want to find dirt on her or have enough time on your hands to dissect each line of print and think about everything you could find wrong with it?
The appeal, for whatever reason, drew you inside. You are this far into the article because you are still looking for a promise or a benefit.
A political candidate’s job is finding market segments and promising a benefit to that segment – if elected. A marketer’s job is finding market segments and promising a benefit to that segment – if the product is purchased.
I’ve already mentioned that it is entirely possible to sell junk if packaged correctly, but I strongly advise against that. Your need is to develop a following. Think for a moment of the late Corey Rudl. No one was better at developing a following of people who paid extraordinary amounts of money for his products.
Corey did not sell junk. And he made us think we were getting a bargain. Corey’s products, now under the leadership of Derek Gehl, continue to have value for Internet marketers. But there’s another guy in town – Marlon Sanders. Marlon teaches both online and offline marketing.
Those are just a few names of those who know how to define their appeal.
Conclusion
Most of the time it is necessary to step outside your little part of the world and follow the proven methods of successful people. We all like to think we know how to build a better mousetrap, but we keep going to the store and buying that neck-breaking, spring-loaded contraption – because it works.
The person you know today as Senator Hillary Clinton is not the same person I met in 1978. Today, her abilities are packaged better. Once upon a time I thought she was the smartest woman I had ever met. Now, a lot of people know that. She knows her market; she knows how to define her appeal. See – she is a marketing guru, after all.
