Do You Need Your Hand Held?
February 05, 2010
By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter
I often use examples from politics in talking about
marketing. Campaigns
are excellent examples of target marketing (and its misfires) as well as using emotion – versus logic - to “sell”
something. (Note: people didn't vote for "the Democrat" in the last election; they voted for change. Something neither party seems to quite get.)
Then I run across this in a article, GOP Still Short On Women.
Gee. Wonder why? Well, you don’t have to wonder once you read this:
"Women sometimes need a little more handholding, or they need their friends to help them make a decision. And by our going in and talking to them and recruiting and educating and training them to either get involved in a campaign or become a candidate, we're giving them the tools so that they can do that on their own," [RNC co-chair Jan] Larimer added.
Handholding? How about head holding so it doesn’t explode? Grrr and arrghh. That this was said by a woman is even sadder and badder. She might as well have said, "We're trying to get them out of the kitchen and some shoes on their feet."
The GOP is still stuck back in the ‘50s with the “little woman” at home needing her big strong man to help her make decisions. Such tone-deaf target marketing does little to help them overcome the perception of being the party of old, oblivious (and scared) white guys.
The GOP is assuming the reason they don't have more women candidates is that we are timid and uncertain. Yes, that's just what we need - timid candidates who need help making decisions.
Tell this to Carly Florina. Or, Janice Arnold-Jones, a GOP candidate for NM governor. Or, ask Ms. Larimer how much hand holding and girl talk she needed. For that matter, go tell this to the members of the local NAWBO chapter's public policy committee...you might escape with your head intact.
I'd submit that they need to revisit their entire approach. Maybe - oh, just maybe - the reason there aren't more women in the GOP is that we don't like their positions and their infantile, obstructionist behavior ("Nahh, nahh, I'm gonna hold my breath until I turn blue!" Which would, of course, be quite the trick for Congressman John Boehner, he's so orange...really, how does he do that?)
And, campaigns are absolutely brutal - nothing is off limits and with a 24-hour news cycle, any and everything you do is in the spotlight, endlessly repeated, dissected and dissed. ("Look! He didn't use American mustard!") - many men don't want to subject themselves to that.
Bottom Line: Whatever you're selling - always, always be revisiting and testing your assumptions. Times and people change.
(If you're a Republican - you might want to skip the comments on the article - some of the most scathing are from GOP women...ouch!)
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