The Benghazi Committee debate did to Hillary Clinton what iMac, iPod did to Apple. After a not-so-good summer campaign, the Thursday debate turned out be Clinton’s best ad campaign yet.
If critics have been silenced and experts are already seeing Hillary Clinton being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in January 2017, then there is much to learn from it.
Here are some takeaways that marketing professionals can learn from the Clinton’s Benghazi testimony:
Start early & set clear goals: Hillary Clinton wanted to become US President since 2007 but it wasn’t until a fortnight ago that she is being considered as a serious candidate for United State’s first woman president. The fact that she started off in 2007 and had a clear goal in mind, paved the way for it.
Shake off the stigma : The biggest challenge Brand Hillary Clinton faced was diverting public attention away from Benghazi that became a classic Clinton scandal. Brands too have their share of facing similar challenges. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have battled problems relating to brand-taint. The two beverages giants faced allegations of pesticides in their colas. The best way to fight brand-taint, as seen from the Benghazi debate is that Clinton did not talk much about the scandal and when the time came, addressed it with facts and moved on.
Identify your audience : Though its been repeatedly stated, yet one of the most important takeaways from the debate was that Clinton knew who she had to address – her critics and doubters. Hence, identifying the right audience. Knowing your ‘customer’ and learning about them is a must.
Make communication effective: The Benghazi debate wasn’t just about being on broadcast television, radio or social media, it was about communicating effectively to voters. So while brands must embrace technology, go digital and integrate various communication channels, the right brand values at the right time is also needed to send out the relevant message to their customers.
Do SWOT analysis of your competitors: This one Hillary Clinton did best. On one of the accusation by her adversaries, she said, “I’ve lost more sleep than all of you put together.” And reports later said that the audience could see her anguish at the loss of four American lives in the 2012 attacks. She knew the weak spots her enemies would attack her with during the debate and she turned them around to make them work in her favor.
Retain ‘start-up’ culture: Hillary Clinton’s campaign had only gone from bad to worse by summer this year. But every time team-Clinton failed, they started again much like a young start-up team would do learning from failures. Bringing in agility helps the brand to become more engaging and interesting for the people.
Drive customers with passion and purpose : Hillary Clinton won over everyone because her debate had elements of both passion and purpose. The CEO and top management of any brand have to stay positive and establish the right climate to make the big difference.
