The President, Scott Brown and Marketing 101

A few years back, I had left clinical nursing to take on a new role as the Marketing Director for a small hospital. It was a referral based hospital and we were selling our services in hopes of getting new admissions. It was an intangible product; you could not taste, feel, touch or really see our product. You wouldn't know if you liked the product, our services, until you experienced them. It is a tough sell because you promise all sorts of things but those promises could be broken by one person who did not do their job or by expectations of care that could not possibly be met.

I was thinking back to marketing last night while I was thinking about this whole uproar over Scott Brown's win and the Obama camp's reaction to it. They sold us a product and we have not been happy with it. In President Obama's case, his product did not meet our expectations in a variety of ways. As for Scott Brown, we have bought his product for now, so we will see.

What do I mean by product? When an intangible service is sold to us, we know that we cannot see what we have actually purchased. We have to trust it, trust it to perform as it said it would. So when we hear, from say, an insurance company that, "you are in good hands", we think, that sounds good. We have no idea if that is true or not, but we respond to the message.

President Obama's message to us was change. Real change. We liked that. Yes, it resonated with us. We hated the war, we hated Bush/Cheney, we hated the path that America was on. We were ripe for change. And that is what we voted for.

A year later, we are still mired in war. People still are not working. He handed a few some money, but it was not enough. Where was the change we so desperately wanted? We see new faces in the White House, but it seems like business as usual. He broke his promise and we became increasingly restless. And mad.

Then came a new hope. Scott Brown. He is not running for President, but he was running for something equally as sacred, Ted Kennedy's seat in the senate. Love him or hate him, Ted Kennedy was a legend. And here we have this no name state senator seeking to replace him. Quite a task. Not to mention that Scott Brown was a republican, and that seat had been held by democrats for decades.

But something amazing happened. People rallied around him. And why? Because he changed the game. It was no longer Ted's seat. It was "The People's Seat." Yes, our seat. People loved that slogan. We wanted to be represented. We didn't like what was happening in Washington, so we wanted to be heard. And so Scott Brown won. Or rather, we won, the people. And the world took note.

So now we will see. Is it really the people's seat? Did we really get what was promised?

Are we in good hands? Did we get a piece of the rock? Are we under a blanket of protection? Will the metaphor that we purchased really meet our expectations?

Perhaps President Obama could learn a lesson here. You can promise all that you want, just make sure you are managing the relationship with the people that bought your product. We have heard you say a lot of things, mostly that you inherited the problem that we face. We know that already. That is why we hired you. To fix it. Not complain about it and offer excuses. So tell us all about that change you promised. Go on TV and list the changes, the benefits that we have received by virtue of those changes. We are waiting.

And perhaps now would be a good time to change your message. Change got you elected, but it will also be your downfall. So I suggest that you ask us to trust you, to trust that you really are going to make things better over time. Trust can be your new slogan. We feel it is too late to hope anymore.

And in the meantime, here is the people's slogan, "What have you done for me lately?" So, far, we do not see much. You still have time to show us. Please don't let us down.