Six Marketing Mistakes Hurting the Democrat Party in 2024

Viewing the political landscape from a marketing perspective shows why the Democrats could lose the 2024 election to a non-traditional outsider candidate who many, including many of his supporters, view as unlikeable.  While their policies may be the ultimate reason, breaking these six marketing rules is certainly contributing to their troubles:

1 – Focusing all their messaging on the competition instead of on the benefits of their “product.”   There’s certainly a place for competitive marketing when it shows how your product/policies are better.  But Democrats are making two mistakes:  1) smearing the leader of their competition and not discussing products/policies, and 2) making that their only message.

2 – Not listening to their “customers.”   Not only does focusing on the competition weaken their message, but Democrats are failing to engage effectively with their customers/voters.  When their product/policies were rejected in their 2016 loss, Democrats didn’t listen to the marketplace and adapt their policies.  Instead, they went after the new leader and tried to eliminate him.  After the Democrats successfully won back control in 2020, they doubled down on the policies that cost them in 2016 instead of adapting them to reflect overall voter sentiment.  That has led to the real possibility they will lose control of the market again to the opposing leader who now has had an incredible amount of baggage heaped upon him.  With an untainted candidate, this election would not even be close.

3 – Thinking a change at the top will fix a company’s/party’s problem.  The Democrats have had their own leadership issues.  Companies change CEOs all the time and it often is very effective in turning a company around.  However, the Democrats have made four mistakes in making their change:  1) not doing it earlier when it was obvious their previous leader was losing “market share,” 2) not choosing a better leader and communicator, 3) not changing their strategy with the change in leadership and 4) not being transparent about the process.

4 – Trying to buy customers/voters.  With their leadership and policy problems, Democrats have tried other tactics.  Marketers have used promotional vehicles to get customers to try their products since the beginning of time.  Unfortunately, free trials, sales, money back guarantees and the sort don’t translate well in politics.  The offer of free money to certain classes of voters invariably backfires by alienating the voters who must pay for it.  It comes across as unfair and is often discriminatory.  For instance, persistent efforts to enact college loan forgiveness have created a lot of negative feedback despite being an attempt to address systemic inequities.

5 – Changing the rules.  Another tactic that’s not working is changing the playing field.  Companies that manipulate market rules to dominate the competition are often sued for monopolistic practices.  When politicians do it, it threatens our democracy.   Politicians of both parties have regularly used their incumbency to maintain power, largely at taxpayer expense with earmarks, pet projects, communication vehicles, etc.  However, these behaviors now include adding ineligible people to the voter rolls, changing election laws, and even talking about adding Supreme Court justices and additional states to the union.  Hopefully, these attempts at maintaining power and creating long-term dominance will backfire.  

6 – Ignoring your customers/citizens.  The ultimate marketing sin is ignoring your customers/voters.  Companies rarely spend money on activities that don’t in some way improve the customer experience.  And when they do, it’s usually to support the community in which they do business or a charity that is important to its customers.  Unfortunately, the Democrats have been spending too much to help the citizens of other countries, illegal immigrants, criminals and very small segments of the population to the detriment of most US voters.  And these misguided efforts are causing a backlash.

Imagine a political world in which our elected leaders acted more like businesspeople, following basic marketing rules and using good business sense.  We’d be treated as customers to be served and not the other way around.  We’d be sold on the value of their platform which would be based on our feedback.  And the price we paid in taxes would go to activities we value:  national security, crime-free communities, our infrastructure and supporting those who can’t support themselves. 

Instead, we are seeing our taxes go to activities that limit our freedoms:  picking winners and losers instead of the free market; reelecting and enriching our politicians; adding regulations to control us and our businesses; providing unnecessary programs that are blatant giveaways or inappropriate to be done by government; giving our money to non-citizens of all stripes; and not doing everything possible to spend our money efficiently, cutting expenses whenever possible.   Wouldn’t it be nice if our leaders checked the ROI of their spending plans and were incentivized to improve the customer/citizen experience and to do so in the most efficient way possible.

This over-spending has resulted in rampant inflation and a debt load that is threatening our economy.  And continually ignoring these marketing principles could threaten our democracy.