5 Marketing Lessons Learned Watching Donald Trump Run for President

Donald Trump has taken over the 2016 Republican presidential primary campaign. Whether you agree or disagree with him, there’s no denying that his candidacy has been a powerful force in the race and has commanded a great deal of media attention.

Time will tell whether Trump’s campaign will be successful in winning the nomination, but he’s already been very successful at generating headlines. Despite his brash demeanor and highly questionable (some would say “hateful” or “stupid”) statements, as of this writing, Trump just keeps rising in the polls.

Regardless of what happens with Trump’s presidential campaign, he’s already a winner in the constant battle for public attention. Here are a few marketing lessons from Trump that any brand or political cause can emulate:

1. Know your audience.

Donald Trump doesn’t care if you love him or hate him. He’s playing to a very select crowd of voters who believe in his message and who want to support him. There’s something about Trump’s tough-talking “I don’t care what the experts think” attitude that appeals to Republican primary voters in 2015. Lots of Republican primary voters are feeling frustrated and are passionate to take back the White House. Trump is giving voice to feelings that are widely shared in that political party.

In the same way, your brand doesn’t have to appeal to “everyone.” Know your target market and speak to their concerns in a relevant way.

Related: 3 Communication Lessons Businesses Can Learn From Donald Trump

2. Know your brand.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump knows who he is. The Trump that we’re seeing on the campaign trail is well known to New Yorkers (I’m a native New Yorker myself). We have watched him for decades become famous as a New York real estate developer, bestselling author and TV reality-show contest business mogul on “The Apprentice.” Trump hasn’t changed. He’s just talking about politics now instead of business deals. But he’s always been bold and brassy, with a take-no-prisoners attitude.

The lesson: Your brand needs to stand for something. Lots of people are not fans of Trump, but even people who oppose his candidacy find themselves grudgingly admiring the consistency of his brand message. What you see is what you get.

3. Be audacious.

Trump has said a lot of outrageous things during the campaign, from inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants to accusing John McCain of not being a “war hero,” but every new media gaffe or media whirlwind just seems to boost his performance in the polls. The reason: Trump’s core supporters respect him for speaking his truth, even if he’s not saying it in a polite, genteel way.

Most political candidates are so polished and focus-grouped that it’s almost impossible for their real feelings and emotions to come out. Trump is in your face, every day, with unvarnished depictions of life as he sees it. He’s not afraid of what anyone thinks about him, and it shows.

The lesson: Don’t be afraid to really stand for something as a brand, even if it’s controversial. Too many companies try to be blandly inoffensive in a failed attempt to be “mainstream” and appeal to “everyone.” It’s better to be memorable, even if you lose some customers who don’t “get it,” as long as you keep appealing to the niche market of customers who love you the most.

Related: Donald Trump Can Get Away With It, But You Can't

4. Trust yourself.

Trump doesn't follow focus groups. All candidates these days test out their message, trying to find the right combination of words and issues to appeal to the right demographic segments of voters. But often, candidates end up sounding excessively “focus-grouped.” The real human connection of the candidate gets lost in trying to appeal to too many people. Trump seems to be resonating with conservative Republican voters because he’s so unrehearsed and unpolished -- he’s not afraid to speak off the cuff. Every day on the campaign seems like he’s just really talking about whatever is most urgently on his mind at that moment.

The same goes with your product. It’s good to do some market research to find out whether a new product is viable, but it’s even more important to trust that you have a good idea. If you feel that way, trust that others will feel the same. I've seen so many great ideas become convoluted and watered down, when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. If you try to make your product appealing to everyone, you’ll ultimately end up appealing to no one.

5. No apologies.

Trump is like no one else we’ve seen in presidential politics in recent years. He seems to have absolutely no sense of regret or shame. He says what he says, he calls it like he sees it, and then he moves on, ignoring the critics. Has Trump ever apologized for anything? He seems incapable of admitting to mistakes or being wrong.

This raises an interesting question for your brand: when should you apologize? If a customer has a bad experience with your product, should you apologize? Or should you just give them a refund and move on, writing it off as “Well, they’re not the right kind of customer for us?” If someone is offended by or misunderstands something your company posts on Twitter, should you apologize? Should you ignore the critics, or try to learn from them?

It’s hard to know when to draw the line. If you apologize too often, you’ll find yourself catering too much to customers who really don’t understand the value of what you offer. But if you don’t apologize when an apology was really warranted, you might damage your brand. You have to toe the line between maintaining your brand reputation and doing the right thing. Don't spend all of your energy on trying to make bad customers happy.

Trump embodies the purity of a certain kind of bold, no-apologies approach to doing business. He’s almost Zen-like in his clear-headed refusal to get bogged down in details of saying “sorry.” He just keeps moving forward and on to the next deal. There’s something so refreshing about that, but not all brands can pull it off.

Whether you’re voting for Trump or not, there’s no denying that he’s a fascinating one-of-a-kind figure in American politics and business. You don't have to become like Trump to learn from how he’s marketed himself and built his brand.

Gregg Schwartz

3 Practical Lessons from Billionaire Mark Cuban

For super entrepreneur Mark Cuban, it all started with a pair of basketball shoes—but not the ones you’re probably thinking of. This particular pair of footwear has nothing to do with the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA team he owns and passionately champions.

Instead, it was this really cool pair the 12-year-old Mark thought he desperately needed. When he asked his father for them, the answer was a definitive no. Mark already had of perfectly fine pair of shoes. “When you have a job, you can get whatever you want,” his dad said.

It was a lesson young Mark took to heart. If you want something, you have to work for it. And work he did. With the help of one of his dad’s friend, Mark began selling garbage bags door to door. He promptly fell in love with business.

“I’ll never forget, they were those thin blue things,” Mark says. “He charged me $3, I sold them for $6. . . Everybody needs garbage bags, so I learned to fill a need and I learned to problem solve.""

Since that long-ago venture, Mark’s never looked back. In 1990, he sold his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million. His next undertaking, Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion. In 2000, this maverick acquired the Mavericks, which is currently listed as one of Forbes’ most valuable franchises in sports. Today, he continues to be heavily involved with the team, along with many other business opportunities and ABC’s Shark Tank.

On a recent EntreLeadership Podcast, Dave spoke with Mark about his business smarts. Here are a few takeaways from their amazing conversation.

1. There’s no reason it can’t be you.

After completing college, Mark moved to Dallas, Texas, where he tended bar, sold software, and did whatever it took to learn and get ahead—even down to eating mustard and ketchup sandwiches when times were really lean. But no matter how tough, though, he never gave up. When he felt down and the odds were against them, he just worked harder.

“I say it to Maverick players and I say it to everybody in business,” Mark says. “The one thing in life you can control is your effort. If you are willing to put in the effort to start the business and you are willing to deal with the challenges and the fact you might starve or live like a student . . . If you are willing to fight through those via effort and brain power, anything is possible. There is no reason it can’t be you.”

2. Selling ultimately comes down to connecting and serving.

Through his hard work, Mark learned another valuable lesson. If you can sell, you can accomplish just about anything. And the key to selling is connecting with people while serving them.

“You are not trying to convince them of anything,” he says about potential customers. “You’re trying to show them how you are going to make their lives easier . . . There are no favors involved. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Success, though, takes more than just a connection with people. There is a lot of hustle involved too, whether it’s garbage bags or multi-billion-dollar tech deals. “Every no gets you closer to a yes,” Mark says. “It’s a numbers game . . . It’s just a question of making the calls.”

3. Don’t be a slave to the bank.

Like Dave, Mark is passionate about staying debt free, especially when it comes to beginning a business. In fact, he says, 99% of today’s companies can be started without capital.

“If you take a loan, you are no longer the boss,” Mark says. “And your customers are no longer the bosses. Your banker is the boss. And if you hit any adversity, like every startup does, the priority becomes taking care of your banker . . . You’re no longer in a position to do whatever it takes to survive.”

For Mark, life is pretty sweet. Besides his many successful companies, his beloved Mavericks and his gig on Shark Tank, he’s recently written a book on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur: How to Win at the Sport of Business. In it, he tries to spread his simple message of success that anyone can apply.

It’s like Mark’s father always taught him. Hard work pays rewards. “There are no shortcuts,” he says.  

Dave Ramsey.