If marketing and PR have a superpower it’s the ability to put what you think aside and look at things from your audience’s perspective
In the days following the 2024 election, I had to smile at the number of marketing and PR people sharing analysis with a preface to the effect of, ‘I don’t do politics, but here are some marketing or PR lessons from the election.’
Many of the lessons seem plausible to me. Some emphasize a particular position, reason, or message as to why one side won and the other lost. Yet I think there’s a meta lesson here. It’s not really about the election, but more about the state of conversation around elections – how we talk to each other about politics.
And more precisely, how we don’t.
I do love how all the marketing and PR people that ‘don’t do politics’ suddenly, all have marketing and PR lessons from the election.
I get it. I’ve been there too. I see tons of lessons.
Just an observation about humanity.
— Frank Strong ✒️ (@Frank_Strong) November 9, 2024
We know the electorate is polarized, but it’s getting more polarized every day. Why? Polarized audiences gravitate towards sources that share the same viewpoints – which only adds to the polarization. In other words, it’s only going to get worse. Two political echo chambers and both are boiling over with confirmation bias.
There is a fundamental lesson here though. And that’s being able to put your personal views aside and agnostically evaluate political positions and messaging. You don’t have to agree with a position or message, but you do have to understand why it lands, or crashes and burns, with an audience.
If marketing and PR have a superpower – that’s it – it’s the ability to put what you think aside and look at things from your audience’s perspective. It sounds easy, but it’s not. At least it’s not easy for human beings.
When we get down to the fundamentals of psychology around marketing and PR for technology products and SaaS software isn’t different from politics. People have strong views about brands, features, benefits, trends, challenges – and the role of marketing and PR is to shape those, and either strengthen them or change them.
In a nascent tech market with a chasm still stretched out before you, the communication challenges are largely about fear of the unknown, immeasurable risk and requires social proof. Conversely in a crowded market, it’s about building a better mousetrap and taking market share from the competitors.
In order to reach a target audience, you have to understand them first. One of the biggest problems in marketing and PR in B2B today, is that marketing and PR people do not talk to customers and prospects directly enough. In all cases, you’ve got to listen before you can position or message.
Whether you’re selling an idea, as in politics, a service as in consulting, or a product like subscription-based software, the fundamentals of communications are the same.
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