I am anxious to read the soon-to-be-released books about this year’s presidential campaign written by insiders privy to juicy information that only those closest to the candidates know. Meantime, I am paying close attention to pundits as they dissect what happened and didn’t happen in the last 22 months; and I took copious notes while watching Sunday’s ’60 Minutes’ interview with the team that orchestrated President-elect Obama’s successful bid. I’m getting an earful of free advice about how to market and promote a little-known brand.
I learned volumes in a short time after volunteering in 3 campaign offices (Sarasota, FL, Columbus and Clayton County, Ga). It wasn’t rocket science or new information. A simple, common sense approach was used to connect with people. In my opinion, the rules in Obama’s playbook can be applied to market just about any project or product. 6 Rules from Obama’s Playbook:
1) Believe In the Project, the ability of experts with oversight of it and the support team. That’s the word from top strategist David Axelrod interviewed by ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Steve Kroft.
2) Make sure the Message is always clear.
3) Hire experts and staff who understand and believe in the mission of the project, and are willing to defend it.4) Build a diverse coalition of staff members and supporters.
5) Make sure the staff includes energetic, motivated college students or 20-somethings with creative ideas who understand the internet (i.e. social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter). 6) Communicate with staff, volunteers and supporters.
I had just finished making calls in the Columbus, Ga office and was about to leave when the manager said Obama’s call to campaign workers was coming in any minute. About 20,000 volunteers and staffers listened as the candidate, in a measured, calm, confident tone asked us to resist complacency, double our efforts, and bring friends to volunteer. Regular notes were emailed and sent by text messages from campaign headquarters to keep volunteers on the same page. A thank you note was texted just before the President-elect’s acceptance speech in Grant Park. Well, surely a campaign worker texted millions of supporters; but what a nice touch to have someone think through that detail.While canvassing, I was chased by a couple of dogs and scared off by a sign that read, “Trespass and be shot.” I’d do it all again and plan to all year long and in the years to come because of the 6 rules above.
–Vickie J. Oldham is the director of marketing and communications for Fort Valley State Univeristy
