Applying Lessons from the Presidential Campaigns to Marketing

 In the referenced article, Forbes interviews Christina Mautz, the CMO of Moz, about responsible marketing. When I think of marketing, I think of the end goal of converting audiences into consumers and sales. Christina notes that marketers aim to change consumer behavior and having that ability brings on great responsibility. Marketers must take this power seriously and market to their audiences in an ethical manner.

Before reading this article, I hadn't considered how lessons from class could apply to the presidential election. In the article's example, presidential candidates may leverage technology to blast thousands of messages with variations on wording to assess which wording is most affective based on the clickthru rate. This is no different than marketers conducting an AB test and providing two versions of an ad in an experiment to assess what version of ad is more effective.

As Christina notes, the current election (and the elections before that) are dominated by clickbait ads and headlines. As the reader, I always approach this media with a healthy dose of skepticism, but how many readers do the same? Christina concludes that it's up to marketers to practice responsible marketing, which can be summarized in three steps. The marketer should understand the target audience, empathize/educate the audience, and respect the audience's privacy. These steps seemed like common sense to me, but it's shocking to think about how many companies disregard these guidelines in their campaigns. Personally, I avoid making purchases from companies that utilize these questionable practices, such as emailing misleading promotions or sending communications at excessive frequencies. 

I hope that politicians and marketers will consider the responsible marketing guidelines in the future. Until then, we as an audience must approach each communication with a healthy level of skepticism to discern what is actually true.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2020/10/10/responsible-marketing-in-the-age-of-presidential-campaigns-and-pandemics/#6963ecb61e51