Repetition. Sounds simple. Just create your message, and repeat it, ad nauseum, until it works. Think of it as the marketers version of the Rinse, Lather, and Repeat instructions you find on shampoo bottles. Of course there’s more to it than that. If your message doesn’t resonate, it will get lost in the noise. But it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that if you don’t repeat your message enough, even the best marketing simply won’t work.

I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve had that either don’t commit to a big enough media buy, or they get bored with their spots and want to change them before it’s appropriate to do so. When you see a commercial enough to get bored with it, you’ve just witnessed marketing penetration. Everybody wants to run commercials or ads that get people talking, but successful marketing is not built on a momentary “buzz” (i.e.: “did you see that new ad for ________”), but on effective ads that are repeated over and over.

Another point that may have escaped your notice is that in life, everybody is a marketer. I’m dealing with a situation in my personal life right now that has brought that lesson home. Just like what the world learned in WWII, if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes indistinguishable from the truth. Having the truth on your side is nice, but it’s no guarantee that you’ll prevail. No, I’ve learned that repetition of a marketing message can overcome the truth, even when I have the truth on my side.

I’d love to tell you that truth will win in the long run. I’d love to tell you that if you have a superior product, or a message that resonates, you’ll win. But while being right or building a better mousetrap is good and important, remember that it’s no guarantee of success. Without repetition as a key component of your marketing, you’re fighting a battle where you are, effectively, an unarmed combatant.

If Ronald Reagan was the “Great Communicator” (and he was), I feel certain that Obama will go down in history as the “Great Persuader,” for it looks as if he will be the first President (and his, the first administration) to use marketing as a weapon, to get what they want.

If this doesn’t scare the Hell out of you, it should.

As a marketer, I realize the awesome power of persuasion, and the responsibility we have as marketers to do the right things for the right reasons. In retail marketing, the market itself has a tendency to correct any excesses. Go overboard with product claims, and you’ll see the public vote with their wallets — and you’ll be out of a job. Get caught lying, and your product will be shuffled off to the marketing equivalent of Siberia. But in political marketing, it’s pretty much an “all spin, all the time” kind of pursuit. I mean, what’s the difference in a “lie” and a “campaign promise?” Lies aren’t forgotten. Campaign promises are. So what happens if Obama and his posse continue to treat this as one big campaign? I’m afraid we’re in big trouble. I figured that, once Obama is sworn in, he’d have to produce actual results, as opposed to more smoke and mirrors. If they keep marketing to us, that may not be the case.

It will be interesting to see just how long this keeps up — and for how long it continues to work. But I’m afraid that, no matter how long it does, marketing will never be the same…and even worse, marketing will take the fall, when people realize that much of what they’ve been told is no more substantial than the smoke and mirrors of a Presidential campaign.

Here’s the thing…Christmas is a Christian Holiday. There. I’ve said it. 20 years ago, this wouldn’t have been an Earth-shaking admission. (Actually, 20 years ago, it would have been a “no, DUH!” moment.) Today, however, we’ve gone from the secular humanists/atheists/liberal left cabal attempting to get the 10 Commandments and manger displays off courthouse lawns to a direct assault on the meaning of Christmas (nee: “Christ Mass”) itself.

Color me disgusted.

You don’t see Christians trying to ban Halloween (which was a blending of a Wiccan festival and a Christian one – the word “Halloween” comes from “All Hallowed’s Eve” – the day before All Saints Day). You don’t see test tube babies protesting Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. And you don’t see welfare recipients protesting Labor Day. (Although, I suspect now that I’ve mentioned it, it’s only a matter of time.) So why can’t the loony left leave our holidays alone?

I have a theory about this. (I’m sure that takes all of you by surprise.) I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and I don’t see plots lurking behind every street lamp. However, when like-minded groups all work toward a common goal, it’s a little difficult to ignore the hand moving behind their messages.

In the past 30 or 40 years, our society has gone from one that took the “One Nation Under God” thing seriously, to one where a (very) vocal minority wants to strip our nation from any and all affiliation with a Supreme Being. It started with confrontational campaigns from the American Atheists and Madelyn Murray O’Hare, who sued in the courts to force a separation between church and state. (A common misconception, by the way, is that there is a Constitutional mandate that separates the two. Not so. The Constitution ONLY states that there shall be no State-sponsored or mandated religion. As long as the government doesn’t force one religion down our throats and simultaneously ban others, religion can actually play a part in government.)

From there, it moved on to groups lobbying to force retailers to switch from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays,” and schools encouraged to stage “Winter Festivals” instead of “Christmas Pageants.”

Now, their strategy has evolved into a straight-out marketing campaign. Forget the lawsuits. Forget the groups threatening to boycott stores. Now we have billboards and buses in the D.C. area that proclaim we should be good for the sake of altruism (always a popular motive on the left), as opposed to doing so because of a belief in – or fear of – God.

Frankly, this scares the Hell outta me. If this campaign – and campaigns like it – get the funding they need/want, this approach could actually make some waves. Never underestimate the power of an effective marketing campaign. It’s one thing to stridently yell at people to convince them of something they know in their hearts is wrong. It’s quite another to use the same techniques the serpent used on Eve in the garden to convince the public to take a bite out of that particular poisoned apple.

It’s an easy thing to convince people to be up in arms when their beliefs are under direct assault. It’s quite another, when a marketing campaign turns from confrontational and belligerent, to employ what almost seems like reasonable and rational arguments. Almost. Will Christianity mount a defense to this latest assault on our cherished holidays and core beliefs, or will it roll over and play dead? I hope that Christians will rise to the challenge. But marketing is a powerful tool, and has felled the strongest of foes.

Thank God. 

No matter how the election turns out, I look forward to watching television broadcasts bereft of ads slinging mud, making unsubstantiated claims, and generally boring me to death. (Whoever came up with the idea for DVRs gets to jump the line into Heaven, in my book.) I can’t think of a more important election within my lifetime – or one that I’m more eager to see done and over. 

I voted over a week ago. I’m not alone…a staggering 46% of Texas Panhandle residents voted early. (By comparison, that’s close to the total number of ALL the people that voted in the last Presidential election – early voting, absentee voting, and regular voting combined.) 

The time for bending people’s ears about who’s the better candidate – and who will lead us down the road to destruction – is, mercifully, over. If you haven’t already voted, I encourage you to do so – no matter who you support. Voting is a precious right in America, and we should never take it for granted. Whoever is elected (fair and square, I hope and pray) faces some huge challenges – perhaps bigger challenges than any President in history will confront. I pray that God watches over this election and guides us all to vote for those who will put country before party, and what is right before ideology, working not as politicians, but as statesmen (and stateswomen) and servants of We the People. 

Now go vote and let’s get this thing over with, so the nation can begin to heal from this long, divisive campaign.