Marketing 101: Lessons from Sarah Palin

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Cordell Parvin

In this post I will focus on Sarah Palin. As David Carr points out in his New York Times article: How Sarah Palin Became a Brand, when she first appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show over one million additional viewers watched. When she was a guest on Oprah, the ratings were the highest in two years.

Carr says: 

Ms. Palin didn’t go on the show to run for president as much as to become the next Oprah. And it seems to be working.

Carr is not the only one who sees this. In a lengthy New York magazine article The Revolution Will Be Commercialized, writer Gabriel Sherman says:

During the campaign, people said she could be another Oprah, but now, in many ways, she’s bigger than Oprah, an empath for people who feel, rightly or wrongly, that America has forgotten them. 

What can you learn about branding and marketing yourself from Sarah Palin?  Here is my take:

  • Stand for something and be authentic about it. Many Americans do not like what she stands for, but most Americans have a clear idea what it is. 
  • Be unique and have charisma. In his article Gabrial Sherman points out that Sarah "Palin has managed to graft this rugged Western myth onto a beauty-pageant face and a counterpunching, don’t-tread-on-me verbal style—a new kind of character, and a remarkably compelling one."
  • Narrow your market. If you market to everyone, you market to no one. Sarah Palin will never appeal to at least 50% of the voters. That makes her pretty much unelectable. But, she is the "go to" person for those who share her values. They want to see her speak. They watch when she is on a television program and they buy her books. Your clients want their lawyers to share their values. 
  • Market across various platforms. Sarah Palin is writing books, speaking, commenting on television and using social media very effectively.  

I will leave you with a quote by Alexander James Haederle from The Sarah Palin Brand: A Lesson in Going Rogue. He suggests:

If you’re having doubts about growing your personal brand, look to Sarah Palin for inspiration. Two summers ago, she was just another politician. Since then, Palin has gone from unknown state governor to national media icon, selling her personal brand to the entire country. Whether or not you agree with her political views, you have to agree that she’s effectively defined, communicated and promoted her personal brand. Have you?

What can you learn? How can you implement it in your law practice? How can you become a rainmaker to your target market in two years? I urge you to read the articles. Then, actually think about how you can implement the same ideas to expand the market that already appreciates your legal work.

 

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More Lessons Learned from Politics: You Lose When You Criticize and Demean Your Potential Client's Lawyer

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Cordell Parvin

Many of you have friends working for companies that already have a lawyer You want to know how to get those potential clients to switch to your firm. Like many things, it is easier to tell you how NOT to do it than to tell you how to do it.

Once again you can learn how not to do it from politics Here is a case in point. How many of you think you will convince a client to hire you by mocking or putting down the law firm that is currently representing the client? I bet none of you think that would be a successful strategy. But, every single week political figures do just that. Here are two recent examples of what I consider to be very poor persuasion. 

During the recent CPAC meeting in Washington, almost every speaker mocked President Obama, rather than just criticizing President Obama's policies. The New York Times reported CPAC Speakers Mock Obama’s Teleprompter.

Dick Armey said: "You're intellectually shallow. You're a romantic. You're self-indulgent. You have no ability," Armey said, calling Obama "the most incompetent president perhaps in our lifetime." While the far right might have cheered, most people in the United States who watched likely cringed. I believe most independent voters, especially those who voted for him believe President Obama is a smart guy and not the most incompetent president in our lifetime. Most people who watched or heard this personal attack on the news likely thought less of Dick Armey.

 

 Just to show mocking goes both ways, Robert Gibbs somehow believed he could make points with independent voters by mocking Sarah Palin. Here is a video of his recent attempt. Listen as the reporters gasp at his lame attempt at humor.

Do you think his attempt at humor actually helped the President? I don't. If anything, it elevated Sarah Palin in the eyes of independent voters and made them think less of Robert Gibbs. 

 

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Experts claim "going negative" in elections works. But, I don't believe it works when the candidate going negative comes across in a way that the majority of people cringe while watching.

Going negative never works in law practice. I have been a partner in a large (600+) law firm. I have been a partner in a small firm and I have started my own firm. I have never tried to persuade clients to hire me by mocking or personally criticizing another lawyer. I have seen other lawyers try it and every time I witnessed it, the potential clients cringed while listening and never once hired the lawyer. I believe they thought less of the lawyer who had criticized or mocked their company's current lawyer.

In a future post I will share with you three ideas to get the opportunity to do work for your friend's company

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