8 Lessons Every Enterprise Can Learn From 2016 Presidential Election

Launching and running a successful presidential campaign is similar to starting and running an enterprise. Here are some key lessons enterprises can learn from this year’s presidential campaigns.

It’s not sexy, but it is essential. The campaigns that invest in data infrastructure, particularly for fundraising, are the campaigns that will go the distance.

Look at the four major players in this presidential cycle. Contrary to his lack of infrastructure, nobody is better at branding than Donald Trump. Likewise, the Cruz campaign was methodical in cultivating and maintaining the conservative brand for Sen. Cruz. On the flip side, the Clintons have been honing the Clinton brand for 40 years, and who doesn’t love America’s crazy uncle, Bernie Sanders?

This is the Twitter campaign—analogous to branding, the social spectrum has increasingly dominated the political landscape. Donald Trump’s entire campaign depends on 140 characters to broadcast whatever is on his mind. Hillary Clinton, not surprisingly, is more adept at combining her social mediums in conjunction with the first two lessons.

Metrics tell us everything, particularly when you combine the power of all digital mediums: website/online ads/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/SnapChat/email/SMS/crowdsourcing/online contributions. Combine and measure the output through the lens of the first three lessons above to yield clear metrics for success. Should you choose not to do this, focus exclusively on steps two and three to alienate the rest of the electorate.

Let’s review the previous four lessons. Clinton combines all of them and uses the insights for success. Trump approaches them in disparate pieces. Simply put, when you combine these insights and connect them, you can approach everything in a campaign or business through ROI. If you are not into ROI, combine steps two and three and redefine the bully pulpit in the process. Trust me, it will be “yuuuuuuuuuuge.”

Two-way communication is everything. When a voter emails or makes an inquiry on your website, you must have proper CRM tools in place to route that communication to the best staff member suited to answer the inquiry. Segmentations should be put in place to automatically trigger quick line responses based on the request. Excellent customer service goes a long way.

The most crucial piece of any successful enterprise is reporting the right information to the right people at the right time. It is essential to work with internal staff divisions to provide relevant information unique to each individual’s responsibility. Knowledge = good decision making.

Workflows and internal chains of command that scale successfully are critical to achieving worker efficiency within a complex staff hierarchy. It is important to work with each staff level within the organization to understand what data points are essential to their position. When you have metrics on tasks within the organization, you can quickly troubleshoot solutions and address deficiencies. Efficiency = ROI.