The online campaign that helped get Donald Trump elected US president was a masterclass on how to reach your target audience that every company should learn from, according to a Derbyshire digital marketing expert from Purpose Media.
Tim Lenton, digital innovation and strategy director at Purpose Media, in South Normanton, says, putting politics and personality aside, Trump’s team delivered a highly effective campaign that understood and reflected his audience’s core values and lead from the forefront of digital political strategy.
The controversial Republican frontman defied the polls as he brushed away the challenge of Democrat Kamala Harris to sweep into the White House for his second term.
While his campaign was often tempered, foul-mouthed and mired in controversy – and even saw him survive an assassination attempt – the headline often obscured the hard work that was taking place away from the headlines.
He leveraged social media and digital advertising with a host of platform-specific strategies in order to maintain an engaging online presence fuelled by controversy, micro-targeted ads and community building.
His team had a strong grasp of the different audiences that made up his supporter base and understood what motivates them, from economic to social issues.
It then used messaging that spoke directly to each section, creating a sense of individual acknowledgement and validation that helped persuade them to put a cross in the Republican box on their ballot paper on election day.
The campaign was highly agile, adjusting messaging to capitalise on trending topics and events or responding to breaking economic news, social issues or other candidates’ missteps, ensuring Trump was always able to shape the narrative in his favour.
And they repurposed user-generated content, like memes and short videos, to create a collective identity among supporters, reinforcing their loyalty and commitment.
Tim said: “Regardless of where you stand on Donald Trump and his politics, his digital campaign was nevertheless a masterclass in online electioneering and there are a wealth of lessons that companies and marketers can learn from.
“From segmenting his audiences to choosing the right content for the right digital platform, his team showed they knew their audience deeply and the kind of messages that they would be open to while they also invested heavily in data analysis to ensure their ads were targeted and personalised.
“Their campaign was at the forefront of digital political strategy and although not everyone is happy with the result of the election, of course, it does show what’s possible online, even for companies which might have a limited budget.”
Established in 2008, Purpose Media employs 24 people and provides a full range of marketing services, including digital, web, creative and video.
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