Posted on / by GEO HITS

Trump Used Twitter, Slammed Rosie O’Donnell and More for an 1,800-Percent Return on Paid Media

Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is a sensation in the U.S. right now. He launched his campaign on his own and was almost immediately written off by the Republican establishment and most pundits.

But Trump used some clever, although controversial, strategies to gain free public relations and an incredible amount of face time on the major television networks to climb from an initial 4 percent to a leading 35 percent in the polls.

MediaQuant, as reported in the New York Times, estimates the value of the free media Trump has enjoyed so far at approximately $1.9 billion. For a candidate that only spent 10 million of his own money on paid media, he’s getting an incredible return on investment that should grab the attention of every marketing firm in the country.

For businesses — and especially startups — there’s a huge lesson to be learned. Trump’s approach to media is like Steve Jobs’ techniques on steroids. Where Jobs gained influence in the media through personal relationships and well-produced “Keynotes,” Trump uses something Jobs didn’t have in his arsenal: social media and inflammatory rhetoric.

1. Chaos to some, showmanship to others

Part of the charm in Trump, if you want to call it that, is his ability to come off as someone speaking off the top of his head. Where most politicians seeking the highest office in the land practice sound bites and statements vetted by polling experts and / or political consultants, Trump has forgone much of the traditional campaign staff.

Instead, Trump falls back on a muscle he’s been developing since his show,The Apprentice, aired in 2008 (and probably long before that). He’s an entertainer. He understands what people want to hear, and while that skill has gotten him into hot water in the past (Trump University), in the world of politics, it can be a Godsend.

Takeaway: In marketing a project or idea, the entertainment value of what you have to say is equally as important as the substance of your presentation.

2. Intense targeting of a target-rich environment

Trump has chosen an easy, poor-performing bureaucratic machine as the target of his campaign’s assault: the U.S. government. Whether it’s trade deals that have damaged our domestic economy or U.S. policies on illegal immigration that have hurt the economy and enraged “law and order” voters, Trump understands a few universal truths.

Every branch of the U.S. government, according to Gallup Polling, has lost the confidence of the American voter. Talk to anyone in the street, and you’ll hear a range of complaints across the political spectrum lambasting the government’s failures to do what we want it to do.

The genius in turning the government into a punching bag is that it’s impossible for the government to be successful in the eyes of all Americans at the same time. We’re diverse and have varying demands, expectations and political philosophies.

Trump has focused his attacks on the government, illegal immigrants, protestors and the media. He can point to the sexual assault and murder of a woman in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant. In the government, if Trump gets tired of hammering away at President Obama’s policies, he can move onto a gridlocked Congress that has proven to be incredibly polarized and dysfunctional. On the national security front, Trump can point to the increasing threat that radical Islam poses, as highlighted in Politico.

And, when all else fails, Trump can simply go back to turning an unpopular Rosie O’Donnell into a punch line.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273028

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