How Barack Obama handles objections
5 June 2008
‘Handling objections’ is a vital part of marketing. If you don’t deal with important objections up front, then people will just turn away. They won’t buy what you are selling.
You have to ask: “Is there any reason why people won’t buy this?”
In previous articles I explained how Barack Obama has dealt with the primary objection against voting for him: he lacks experience.
There are other objections, mostly handled with his ‘It’s time for a change’ message. So far so good – it’s all good marketing.
Now, in June 2008, all the political commentators are asking who Barack Obama will choose as his running mate. The question arises because a large sector of the electorate, ‘white working class males’, are perceived as unlikely to vote for Obama. He just does not appeal to them.
The area he has the biggest problem is the Appalachian mountain regions, which include (loosely) the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia South Carolina, Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, and the Ouachita mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
I go to Hill Billy country
I speak to a ‘hill person’ in the Ouachita mountains, and get this reply:
“The real Hill Billys are for the death penalty, against abortion, against gun control, can’t make ends meet, and see color instantly, because they don’t know anything about people of color. I don’t know where Obama stands on these important issues, but surely he’ll let me know soon.”
How will Obama handle the Appalachians?
Barack Obama is a marketing man. Marketing, however, is something few politicians and commentators know about. So they do not yet appreciate the methods.
Yes, political commentators see his new and highly successful fund raising techniques and will write millions of words about them. But they fail to connect this ability to his wider marketing ability.
As a marketer, Barack Obama will not view his problems in old, political terms. He will look for the best way to remove objections people have to voting for him.
The true marketing approach is not to ‘choose a running mate that will appeal to white working class male voters’. That misses the whole point.
The marketing approach is simply to do what is necessary to obtain the greatest market share – to dominate the market and win the presidency.
Obama will build market shares by removing any major objection to voting for him. How he does this is wide open.
Watch this space, because, as we say, the past is no guide to the future. I will explain the marketing principles his team are using as each one unfolds ..
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