Part 3 of the Series -Arguably The Most Effective Branding Campaign Ever

As you're probably aware or have deduced by now that I'm a huge fan of presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama.  That being said, I'll be the first to admit that I had no idea who Barack Obama was 2 years ago.  Today he is one of the most influential elected official America has seen in recent history.  From his Speech against the Iraq War to his speech on Race Relations to his unprecedented presidential campaign which some in the media now calls the democratic juggernaut. Senator Barack Obama has injected the American electorate with ‘Obama Juice' and now we can't seem to get enough of it. 

To explain this phenomenon in a one page blog post is obviously impossible.  Many factors play a role in this exceptional American story.   What I will do is give you a list of things I believe contributed to his branding success.

To develop a compelling brand, the company or organization must maintain 5 crucial elements: A quality product or service, the building of a unique model, the vision to empower people, exceptional communication techniques, and a way to measure progress.  

Quality Product or Service,  First you must have a product or service that has true value and benefits for your consumers or clients. It could be exceptional customer service, a user friendly software or website or a unique approach to design. In some cases a combination of the two can multiply the value of your product or service, Apple Inc. illustrates this synergy very well.  In the case of this election that would be Senator Barack Obama.  His extraordinary education credentials, colorful background, worldview and his ability to reach millions of people through his commanding words gives him that quality stamp needed in the American political arena.  

Build A Unique Model -  Businesses need to distinguish themselves from their competition.  Marty Neumeier of Neutron LLC calls this creating a charismatic brand -  "Any product, service, or organization for which people believe there's no substitute."  Senator Barack Obama Unique Model is "Change You Can Believe In" Senator Obama is running as the candidate that's against the norm of politics in America.  - His focus is building the country from the ground up instead of the top down, ironically separating himself from the majority approach to politics in a democratic society.

 Empower People - Once you have a great product or service and you have created a strong case for your product, you then have to get your customers involved in the process. When customers are involved in your product whether it been providing feedback options at the beta level or requesting feedback of an existing product gives people the sense that you care, which enhances communication and increases customer loyalty.  Senator Barack Obama campaign core is a grass roots movement, everyday people doing extraordinary things.  His record fundraising numbers are based on small donors - working middle class people contributing small sums of money, $5, $10, $25 dollar donations., Giving everyday people a sense of responsibility and power to change their country and ultimately their destiny.

Exploit Communication Technology -  Continuously communicating with your demographics is an effective way to keep your product and service front and center of your clients mind.  With the enormous reach of the internet and mobile communication, a company has a free pass to communicate with their demographics on and offline easily and in lots of cases by the consent of their clients or customers. Senator Barack Obama has utilized this technique in such a way that one would consider his efforts abusive of the technology, with perfect understanding of the medium, the Barack Obama campaign was able  to employ the internet to maximize volunteering and donation efforts leading to record breaking resources in people and campaign contributions.  From  his perfectly executed website to his email outreach to his social networking involvement, to his mobile phone texting campaign, to his mobile phone applications for phone banking.... The Barack Obama campaign was able to effectively use technology as an advantage while their opponents were still trying to figure it out.

Measure Your Progress - Measure your success. Are your messages resonating with your clients? Are your customers subscribing or buying your products due to your new communication strategies?  Utilizing feedback and comments boxes, tracking website visitors, keyword trends and analyzing visitor responses is key to building a successful branding campaign.  The Barack Obama campaign has been diligent in finding out what works and what doesn't work though state and national polling, network and cable news are great resource for feedback; almost instant in some cases. Social media sites like twitter gives the campaign an idea of what the electorate are thinking and saying, sites like Digg  and YouTube emphasizes what the public think is important.  All these measures are keys in gauging and growing the Barack Obama campaign efforts and should be the same key techniques used to grow your small business. Part 4 of this series will be on  how SEO and inbound marketing efforts help create an influx of web traffic to the Barack Obama website.

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