Eight years ago, Donald Trump winning the presidency was a shock to many. I was among those who didn’t expect that result, and wrote about how neuroscience explained his rise and how he used brain-based tactics to win over voters. Not much has changed, except this year’s result surprised fewer people. While I wouldn’t advise any CMO or marketer to use all of Trump’s tactics, there are some useful lessons from his winning campaign.
Simple Messages Resonate
First, keep your messaging simple. If you listen to Trump’s speeches, you’ll never hear him support what he says with statistics or studies. You won’t hear him detail policies or the steps he’ll take to achieve a goal. Instead, you hear things like his slogan, “Trump Will Fix It.”
In the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton had a detailed, nine-point plan to solve the immigration crisis. In stark contrast, Trump promised to, “Build a wall. A big, beautiful wall.” People intuitively grasp the idea of a big wall stopping illegal border crossings, regardless of its feasibility.
In Thinking Fast and Slow, the late Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman explained that people prefer to use System 1 thinking, which is fast, intuitive, and doesn’t involve detail or analysis. A detailed policy proposal pushes people into System 2 thinking, a mode that is effortful and uncomfortable.
Lesson for Marketers: Simple, easily processed messages appeal to the way your customers’ brains work. Evaluate your messaging for fluency and simplicity.
Emotional Messages Beat Rational Ones
As much as we humans pride ourselves on being rational thinkers, emotional messaging is almost always more persuasive. A huge study of ad campaigns found that emotional campaigns generated twice the profit of rational ones. Emotional ads also outperformed ads with both emotional and rational components.
Trump’s messaging appealed to people’s emotions. He didn’t trot out inflation or employment numbers. Instead, he asked, “Are you better off now or four years ago?” He guessed that many voters felt worse off, whatever economic statistics might show.
Some of Trump’s darker messaging was also purely emotional. Characterizing illegal immigrants as murderers and rapists might not be supported by statistics but creates a visceral reaction among his audience. Similarly, reducing a complex transgender issue to, “Do you want boys in girls sports?” creates an emotional reaction rather than a reasoned one.
Lesson for Marketers: Your product or service may be amazing, but don’t expect enumerating its features and benefits to be persuasive. Lead with emotional messaging, and have the facts and figures available for those customers who want to dig into them.
Identity is Powerful
One of Trump’s most effective ploys is to play to people’s identity and use “us vs. them” messaging. Shared identity is so powerful that in 2016 Dr. Robert Cialdini added a seventh principle, Unity, to the original six principles of influence he described forty years ago. Invoking shared identity makes one very persuasive.
Many uses of shared identity are positive. H-E-B, the supermarket loved by Texans, plays up its Texas identity in all of its marketing and in a vast number of its products. “We are Texans like you,” is the implied message. Tito’s “Vodka for Dog People” campaign used shared identity to connect with dog lovers.
Trump’s use of identity has both positive and negative elements. His campaign is built around patriotism and uses many patriotic symbols. “We’re all Americans,” he is saying, a sentiment that any presidential candidate can use productively.
The darker side of shared identity is when it is invoked with an “us vs. them” mentality. Much of Trump’s messaging has drawn a distinction between his supporters and other groups. By demonizing his political opponents, the press, immigrants and others, he can add new supporters at the same time as he energizes his current ones.
There are risks with a heavy emphasis on identity in a political campaign – if too many people feel excluded, one can fail to attract the necessary majority. And, even if the campaign is successful, it makes governing more difficult by reducing cooperation.
Lesson for Marketers: Find or create a shared identity with your customers and emphasize it in your marketing. Keep the vibe positive. Tito’s didn’t need to attack cat people in its successful Vodka for Dog People campaign. “Us vs. them” tactics can work – Apple’s classic 1984 ad showed Mac users to be young, courageous, and attractive while it painted PC users as gray, mindless corporate drones – but entail the risk of alienating potential customers.
Overall Takeaway for Marketers
Simple, emotional messaging and exploiting shared identity are effective tools for every marketer. But, avoid other elements that worked for Trump. Don’t label your competitors as enemies or the people who use their products as ignorant or misguided. They are your future customers.
And, tell the truth. Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, avoided debates and interviews where their statements would be fact-checked. Marketers don’t have that luxury – consumers, competitors, and the FTC will check your statements and will embarrass you if they find untruths.
Whether or not you are a fan of Donald Trump, you must acknowledge his skill at appealing to voters even when experts thought he had little chance of success. What other lessons have you learned from his campaigns?