March 31, 2021

In Brief: Conservatives Woefully Out-Marketed by Leftists

Marketing professor Gene Del Vecchio explains why this matters.

Gene Del Vecchio is a consultant and adjunct professor of marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business. So he knows a branding problem when he sees one.

While the Republican Party makes a strong case for their various platforms, too often they lose the marketing battle. Unfortunately, that is the only consequential battle in Washington D.C.

The power of marketing is derived from the astute ability to identify a target audience, craft a simple yet powerful message, and effectively disseminate it to voters. Unlike the Republican Party, Democrats have honed this ability for decades with powerful effect.

Del Vecchio relates the story of the abortion debate in the 1960s, when Democrats realized they were outmaneuvered by the “right to life” slogan. Before long, the “right to choose” became their rallying cry and public opinion shifted dramatically their way.

Immigration is another such subject:

The use of the term “illegal alien” has deep roots. … The U.S. has used the term “alien” almost since the country’s inception, having been referenced in the 1790 Naturalization Act that provided the first guidelines for granting citizenship. …

Those in favor of the phrase say it is simply descriptive. Liberals believe it to be dehumanizing, and they fired up the marketing machine.

Why?

In politics, shrewd marketing influences public opinion, which empowers legislators, which changes laws. In many ways, politics is marketing.

The only recent, significant example of Republican leadership out-marketing Democrat leadership was the 2016 election. Then-candidate Donald Trump had a more effective, benefit-oriented slogan — Make America Great Again — versus Clinton’s non-benefit slogan — I’m with Her.

After four long years of the Democrat marketing machine going “into hyperdrive” to tear down Trump, he lost. “Trump did not lose the presidency due to his policies. He was outperformed by far superior marketing.” And if Republicans want to succeed, he concludes, this must change.

Throughout, Democrats do a superb job of thinking strategically and acting tactically, for the long game, which proves them to be master marketers. Republicans are simply not as skilled and are sometimes hampered by their scruples, and so they will fall further behind unless they understand that espousing sound policy is not enough. They need smart, more aggressive marketing that uses a greater array of tools.

It’s time to level up.

Read the rest here.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.