At this point, we are only a few weeks away from Election Day and despite polls that say it is likely that Hillary Clinton will win the election, if you are a marketer and have spent any time studying the psychology of selling and advertising, you have to be a little concerned that those polls may not reflect reality.
I don’t write that out of some political position, but just out of the simple idea that over and over we find that the reasons people make decisions is often different than what they think they are.
But that is not the topic of today’s discussion, instead it is about how you can destroy your brand in just a few easy steps.
Because if you look at Donald Trump’s brand, you would have a hard time arguing that his run for president has helped his brand much, especially in the area of his target market for his buildings, hotels, golf courses, and other luxury products.
Why do I say that?
Well, pretty simply, the Trump brand for what it was worth was built on the illusion of luxury and success. It was an aspirational brand.
But in running for president, Trump has turned his brand into something else.
There are still loosely held threads of the “successful” business man and deal maker.
But the premise of that seems to have long ago slipped away to a marketer trying to sell to the lowest common denominator. And, in the effort to sell to the lowest common denominator, the Trump brand has moved from one of aspiration to one of desperation.
Let’s look at how he has managed that in 3 simple steps:
1. Going into the gutter:
The premise of Donald Trump’s run has been that he is going to make America better at making deals and that he has the respect of leaders around the world.
This premise might even make sense if Trump had taken some sort of level headed, measured, professional tone with his campaign, but from the get-go, we haven’t seen anything that remotely resembles any professional business person that we are supposed to respect.
From the first moments of the Trump for President campaign, The Donald has been less leader and more carnival barker. Willing to slam, put-down, and lower the bar at every opportunity to throw red meat to an audience that is the polar opposite of his carefully crafted image as a deal making business leader.
This constant drum beat of lower and lower can only act as a drag on a high-end brand.
2. Repeating claims that lack details:
Great brands are masked in mystery.
Unfortunately, if you claim some sort of special plan or special idea, mystery can also act against you.
The illusion of mystery is one of those double edged deals.
Which gets us onto the idea of the Trump way of campaigning on some sort of mysterious knowledge that the rest of the world doesn’t understand.
As citizens of the world, we have become almost immune to the way that our leaders and politicians offer up some form of double talk and talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Which, in theory, could have made this gambit by Trump a win for him, but instead has knocked down his brand a few steps.
Why?
Because instead of saying he is getting ideas and information that no one else would share or that politicians are scared of and explaining examples…he just sputters and stammers about things and seems to be just blowing things out of his booty.
This destroys his brand because you have to absolutely have some substance that backs up the allure.
With much of the claims that have been coming from Trump, there just hasn’t been enough substance there to maintain the illusion.
3. The law of publicity cuts both ways:
The iron law of brand building is that you build your brand with publicity.
Ask Donald Trump, he will tell you.
The only problem with that is what the publicity gives, it can also taketh away.
In the case of Donald Trump’s brand, he has spent a career finding ways to turn everything he does into something that can deliver a publicity push for his brand.
Which worked very well for decades, but when faced with the intense attention of a presidential race, means that he can’t control the narrative as easily any longer.
This has been destructive to his brand for so many reasons, but let’s just list a few of the negative hits that will make his properties and products much less valuable going forward:
- The claims of sexual assault.
- The hot-mic video with Billy Bush.
- The press conference with the Mexican president where he called him out about the wall to his face.
All of these things add up and chip away…
The fact is that the Donald Trump brand isn’t what it was. In is even more true that it is unlikely that the brand of Trump will ever regain its stature. One final fact is that the real question is how much damage will he do to the brands that surround him on his way to bottoming out his brand?