What Political Campaigns Can Teach Us About Business.

April 17, 2007

Any kind of business. I want to make that clear before starting with this post. We all have seen candidates on tv promising to give everything to the people in exchange of their support and their vote, in some occasions in exchange of their money. What this guys are doing is the same thing as a company. They’re trying to sell their image as a company tries to promote it’s brand, they are also trying to convince people about something valuable and different,that no one else can offer.

You already know how this works, it’s the same thing in the U.S , in Mexico, India or Canada. But, what can this campaigns teach us about business? well, a lot in fact. Let’s take a look to some interesting points.

Be controversial
. Theres a quote that says “Big dogs don’t bark” this means that the real big important guys don’t need to be spreading the word or showing off. But the truth is that a controversial person with a controversial story can bring a lot of attention, People love strange and unusual things, they love that, so if you want more attention than usual, you know what to do.

Give Power to your people. Not just to your supporters and partners, but also to your followers, customers and even competitors, this las arguments might sound a little strange for you, but just analyze it, if you give a piece of the cake to each person you work with they’ll be grateful with you and they’ll want more from, you, this will make them to stay, of course be careful and don’t give them everything at once. Do you get my point?

Always accept advice. Never, never think you know everything. We all need an advice from time to time, one advantage of presidential candidates is that they are surrounded of great advisers, so don’t be afraid of asking for help.

Be Transparent. If you’re promoting your company, say so. Nothing is worse than creating a fictitious profile that is later uncovered by your target audience. You and your company’s credibility will take a nose dive.

Be careful of what you promise and offer. Customers are intelligent (well, let’s face it, not all of them) but they know when you are promising more than what you can actually give, this will make you lose credibility and of course support and money.

Ok, that’s it, there are many great tips we can learn from political campaigns, but these ones are the most relevant and useful, if you know another one, please share it with us.

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