Well its election time in Canada once again and I don't mind telling you I am concerned as most Canadians should be about who is going to run this great country of ours.
Its quite interesting really. Having been an old Progressive Conservative and watching our new combined party ( reform and conservatives) at work, I have been pretty disappointed with the showing of Mr. Harper. In fact he made quite a few major mistakes in this campaign. You may be a great leader, but make a few mistakes and perception becomes then becomes reality. That is the case with our boy Stephen.
The first mistake was on the approach. I think hammering your competition is not the wisest move in the old book of marketing. As a marketing coach I look at an election like its a war. First thing you need to do in marketing is establish your brand. The conservatives never did that. If Stephen Harper is the brand and not the party then you leave yourself open to all kinds of issues that are personal about the person and not the party. So who the hell is the PC Party -- its a lot more than Stephen.
The second thing in marketing is to establish your key value proposition. Harper as the brand did not give me a small "c" conservative the confidence that he actually had a value proposition.
His value proposition was presented that the other guy is not much of leader. Well, tell me why you are the better leader and why I should vote for you. Harper really did not give me the confidence that he presented a better alternative. His key blunder was waiting too long to release his platform and then when he did, it was a weak list of things that he wanted to accomplish. The competition called it a brochure. That pretty much sums it up. Remember the Red Book. Confidence, Confidence Confidence. I think this was the turning point. As someone that was unhappy with the other parties and waiting for more information on which to make the choice, well it never came. In marketing the key to selling any product is to build confidence with the target audience. I am not sure who Harper had giving him his advice, but he did not even get to first base in building confidence with his audience.
What politicians need to realise is that they are basically selling a product -- a leader. Leadership is not about ripping others apart but demonstrating to the audience that you are actually a better leader, giving confidence and presenting a better value proposition than the next guy.
Harper may have thought that by cutting the arts, taxes and showing Canadians that he knows how to go to the office everyday,that he can lead a country, but he did little on these three fronts to really make a difference.
For me,I still be voting for the Conservatives even if it means holding my nose. In reality, Harper has the tools to lead Canada. I just wish he had spent some more time telling Canadians about his vision for Canada.
As someone who has sold tons of products to lots of people its simple enough. Tell me again why I should buy your product, whats in it for me and how confident am I that the purchase will pay off for the job its being purchased to do.
I think people spend the same time researching a new car, telephone, a television or a computer as they do on who to vote for in an election. Most politicians just don't get it. They don't know how to sell people what it is they want.
We just want a honest person, with strong leadership skills that will give us the confidence that they know what the hell is going on and that they can do the job. Its that simple. Don't give me too much dirt on the other guy because if you give me enough or more information on what you will do then I am going to spend my time learning more from you and then voting for you. Its pretty simple. Why is it that everyone working in politics in North America has forgotten that.
Kensel Tracy is The Marketing Coach. This blog is written as my own personal opinion on a variety of topics. It may or may not mean anything to anybody. It does however give me a chance to say what it is I really think in the hopes that one day it may just give someone the confidence to do something a little different.
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