Have you ever watched a movie and at the end you see recordings of few events that transpired during the production of the movie?
That’s similar to one of the strategies used by the All Progressive Congress, APC, to become the ruling party. I know this might not be a planned strategy for them, it might have just happened but they later took advantage of it and it really worked for them.
In early 2013 or so, at the time of formation of the APC; we all read, watched or heard the news about how political leaders like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande and General Muhammadu Buhari (now President Buhari) had series of meetings. We heard about their outcomes to form a new major political through the merging of the defunct parties like CPC, ANPP, ACN and others.
We all knew how they had series of secret meetings making deals across the country all in the effort to successfully merge and form a new major opposition political party.
We all knew when they finally agreed and merged as one political party. And we knew when they had issues with the Independent Electoral Commissions, INEC, majorly due to their chosen name.
For the party, all these served as what is called the behind the scene in movies. They were accounts of what transpired in the formation of the party. Instead of making all these information something unknown to the public, they made them all open. There was always something about them in the news almost every single day since the conception of the idea till when the party was finally formed.
This is the same marketing strategy used by movie producers. When they are about to launch a movie, they talk about it everywhere and show you trailers and the behind scenes from the movie all to catch your attention and make it something you talk about.
Marketing experts will call this and other similar examples like this pre-emptive marketing or strategy of pre-eminence.
This was the strategy APC was using maybe unknowingly or intentionally to get the attentions of the general public and influence us to believe in the mission of the party. In order for us to believe them more, they said everything is all about the move to save Nigeria.
They used lots of these strategies during and after the formation of the party. Here are three consecutive examples after the formation of the party that comes to mind as I write now.
1. They made their presidential primary election an open affair:
This is not a new thing. Many political parties have done something similar in the past. But for the 2015 general election, no party organized a primary election worth talking about like the APC.
In the event, they displayed a level of organization and build anticipation that everybody was eager to know the outcome. Whether you noticed that or not, the event was a marketing strategy. During the event, one of the popular thing they were bragging about was that they are trying to show Nigerians how to organize transparent and credible elections.
2. Choosing the Vice Presidential Candidate:
After electing General Muhammadu Buhari as their presidential candidate, the next issue they kept the news and the media busy talking about was how difficult they were finding it to choose a vice presidential candidate. They made the choice of their vice presidential candidate seemed so tough than choosing their presidential candidate. They kept people talking, guessing and suggesting about this for weeks if not months until they later came out with the announcement of Professor Yemi Osibajo.
3. The Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s letter:
After the announcement of Professor Yemi Osibajo as the Vice Presidential Candidate, Tinubu released a letter as a press release and pre-empted people with what transpired before the choice of Professor Yemi Osibajo, why he rejected the offer of a vice-presidential candidate and many sacrifices him and other party leaders to change Nigeria for the better.
If you think all these were just mere occurrences, think again. The fact is they were powerful marketing strategies to keep the ideas and missions of the party in the mind of people.
Here’s the business lesson,
Use the power of behind the scenes and unusual events to launch or market your products in order to keep people thinking about your business. Look for something worth talking about, no matter how small or irrelevant it might seem and make it a public discussion or event in your business.
Do you think people just queue or preorder iPhone for no reason?
The queue and the pre-orders don’t just happen. They are all due to Apple’s innovative pre-emptive marketing Strategies.
If movie producers, Apple Inc and the politicians can successfully use this; no matter your business, service, idea or product, why can’t you use it?
Most of us, the general public, don’t see the inner game, we only see ‘the published outside appearances’. And that’s why we become die-hard followers of politicians and brands while they keep selling us every single day of their life.
Don’t just be a consumer of marketing messages of politicians and big brands, learn to create, market and sell your own brand too. That’s the only way you can survive in this new economy where the tide of technology is sweeping people out of jobs and businesses every single day.
I wrote two posts before this:
1. The “One Thing” That Can Earn You Millions If Not Billions
2. The “One Factor” You Need To Move from Nothing to Extraordinary
They are both revealing marketing lessons from Nigeria politicians and how you can take advantage of the lessons to take control of your own business, career, income and live your dream. I’m going to write one more before I move on to write something else.
You’ve got to do one thing, which is…
Take Control, because, it’s the only thing that pays.
Olusola
PS: If you love to learn about Sales and Marketing and how to effectively do it on the WEB to make more sales, build your business or career. Click Here to get access to the WEB Players’ 4-Simple Step System To Growing Your Business, Career, Income and Building Your Empire Through the WEB. It’s Free for now.
PPS: And if you’ve found this post useful, please click your favorite social button to share and watch out for part-4 in this series in few days.