764: The Political Marketing Playbook - The Ultimate Guide to Political Marketing Campaigns

Brian Nichols  0:16  
What separates a good political marketing campaign? With a great one? Yeah. Let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, hey there, folks, Brian Nichols, here on The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us on of course, another fun episode. I am as always your humble host. Joining you live from our cardio miracle Studios here in lovely Eastern Indiana. Do you want to have better heart health? We'll stick around. We're gonna talk about that later on. But first, we're gonna talk about how do you actually implement a successful marketing campaign that is not just good, but great to join us to talk about that and more. Robert Lee from Lee six wheat media. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Rob, thanks for joining us.

Robert Lee  1:12  
What's up, man? How are you?

Brian Nichols  1:13  
Doing well, doing better than I deserve? Frankly, it's been an absolutely incredible year. And frankly, not just from my personal perspective, but the show's perspective. I think a lot of folks are waking up across the nation in the world of our greater liberty movement. So that makes me excited. I think it's to the work that, you know, folks, I mean, not trying to toot my own horn and your own horn, but folks like us in the sales and marketing world, that we're helping make the difference, because we're helping teach people how to communicate about these ideas that are often very polarizing, and get people really riled up, but not in the best of ways. But I'm way too excited, obviously, for today's conversation, I'm putting the cart before the horse, Robert, to some favor, introduce us. Yeah. Introduce yourself here to The Brian Nichols Show audience and what is least Expedia?

Robert Lee  1:58  
Yeah, so least Expedia is basically a political consulting agency oriented towards helping candidates tell their story better connect with people's issues and challenges in their life, and provide valuable solutions to those problems without being angry about it. And we do everything from general consulting, to male consulting, to marketing, consulting, and we're part of a larger family of companies, the least six family of companies that are all oriented towards, basically what you've talked about using marketing tactics, using marketing strategy, to deliver a good sound solid political message. And in the case of of media,

Brian Nichols  2:40  
I tease the question, maybe we'll just go ahead and address the question right now. So you've worked with I'm sure many candidates, and you've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, but also you've seen the great in when it comes to marketing campaigns for political campaigns, I think of one specific marketing campaign off the top of my head. And we actually had on the show, gentlemen, Philip Stutz, he used to do a lot in the world of political campaign marketing. And he actually worked on Ron DeSantis, his campaign for governor back when he was first running, and he actually found it was the key demographic that was not being spoken to. And that was moms who wanted to have school choice options for their kids. So from a marketing perspective, he, as a consultant helped bring school choice moms into the fold, which when you look at the final votes in that election between Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum ended up being the deciding factor game changer. The game was a game changer is huge. Um, so I mean, it plays a role, right? It absolutely plays a role. But talk to us about kind of your expertise and your experience, what have you seen makes a great political marketing campaign versus the good, the bad? And as I mentioned, yes, the ugly?

Robert Lee  3:57  
Well, if if you're familiar with the value journey that any voter takes, and I don't mean political value journey, I mean, the the journey they take from not knowing who you are as a candidate to becoming a diehard supporter. Most candidates believe that you have to just jump in and get people to donate and volunteer and put up a yard sign right away. But when you go back to those, those soccer moms or the school choice moms, or even people that aren't on my side of the aisle, and I'm a Republican consultant, I believe you're a libertarian if if, if I'm not mistaken for terian

Brian Nichols  4:33  
republishes furtive, you know, it depends on who's actually talking the most sense. I shouldn't get to know where my head's at.

Robert Lee  4:40  
Sure, but either way, right? We have to connect with people that we need them to take action, but we also need to make sure they understand we are there to solve problems. We are there to make their life better. So every good campaign that I've been a part of, has always started with that question of how can we help solve your problem? And in the campaign I love going back to is a guy named Mike Boyce in 2016. And I live in in the Atlanta metro area. And we of course, have the Atlanta Braves in and we had a big stadium that was built. At that time. The guy that we were campaigning against was the incumbent, he negotiated the deal. And they went from the perspective of economic development. We're bringing jobs, we're bringing nice buildings, we're increasing property values. But the problem most people had was the fact that they weren't asked about the deal, we had 70 days to understand what that $400 million bond package looked like. And most people love the idea of a new stadium, they just wanted to be listened to. So we spent nine months talking to people about how we listen to them, and about how we connect with them on a personal level, in such a way that says, You matter in your government. And we ended up mopping the floor in that race that we were outspent 10 to one, we but we talked to literally 150,000 different connections, right, not 150,000 different homes, but we made 150,000 connections on doorsteps on on the phone, in addition to mail and digital and everything else we did by beginning with that question of how can we help? And how can we challenge the status quo that's creating your problem right now. And every good candidate does that. So

Brian Nichols  6:34  
I want to go further on the idea of problem solving. But before we do that, I wanted to go back to something you raise up here, this has been a recurring theme for folks who have been listening to the show here, not just recently, but I mean, seemingly for years now. And that is what's the best way to make an impact. Activity breeds results. If you go out and you knock on doors, you're getting that face to face contact with your constituents, with your voter with your target market, whoever that may be in your business world, that's the best means to actually find business to find votes to make the sale, right. And I just want to re emphasize that because we've had folks from Young Americans for Liberty, they do an awesome campaign called Operation win at the door. And they've helped elect literally hundreds of state reps across the United States by doing literally that going and sending their activists across the district to knock on the doors and raise awareness of those candidates. Right. When we talk to our local officials. They're going out and the ones who are successful, what are they doing differently, they're knocking on doors, I have one candidate years running for mayor in Indiana, he's made it a goal to knock on every single Doran in his district for from air. So like, you see that there is absolutely the ability to to make the like the right decision towards success. But it requires hard work. I think hard work sometimes is, you know, a main allergy for folks, so they avoid at all costs. But let's go back to the problem solving that you raised up there. Robert, talk to us about what you learned from your dad, I heard he maybe taught you a thing or two in the world of sales as a car salesman talking about that.

Robert Lee  8:11  
Oh, yeah, yeah. So so my old man was the best salesman I ever saw in my life. I mean, he and he was just a old school car salesman in Wyoming. And he just had this uncanny ability to read what people need and understand what they need and be able to walk them through that process. So when I was in between high school and college, that summer of just working my tail off, I was a lot attendant, which basically meant I was just slaving away in a hot asphalt lot washing cars running all over the place, basically doing whatever I was told. So remember, one day my old man calls me over the intercom says Jr. Get your butt up front. And he just told me I want you to stand right there and don't say a thing. I don't just don't do a damn thing. So I sat there and I watched him and he was talking with this mom and this this young lady and this young lady was the same age as me. She was going off to college. And I was watching this real animated conversation and I could hear my old man talking about Well, here's a car that's that's a good car. And this girl just wasn't having it. She wanted a Mustang. She didn't want an entry level car that was brand new, but she wanted that Mustang that sexy by right. So she could show off a college that she was driving a Mustang. And so I watched him just let her argue with her mom for 1520 minutes. And at one point, I just saw the old man make his move. I just saw it. I just knew something was going to happen. And he just leaned into this young lady and said, you see that boy right there? That's my son. He drives a 93 Ford Escort that I paid cash for him and he's working his tail off sweating his ass off in the back. And he's never talked to me about his car wants his only ever said thank you, this woman right here is going to buy a brand new car, and it's going to be safe, and it's gonna get you everywhere you want to go, it's gonna smell great. But if you argue with your mom about the car, she's going to pay her hard earned money to buy you. You're not welcome here. And then he just stood up and leaned back. And I thought, oh my god, the balls on this guy to be able to talk to somebody that way in front of her mother. He ended up selling that fan, that girl that car that he kept trying to get her mother to buy. And she, her mom pulled my dad aside and basically said, Thank you. Just thank you for saying what you said. And he ended up making a bigger sale on warranty service packages and everything else that was needed, which ultimately is where a lot of car dealerships make their money. Right. All by understanding the person that was making the purchase and what their problem was, her problem was making sure her daughter was safe, making sure her daughter had something reliable, making sure her daughter would get home when she drove back from wherever she was going to college. Mind blowing brilliance. And I mean, this is a guy that that was a car salesman, right? I mean, not somebody that you would look at and say they the rocket scientist of the world, but the guy could read people. I mean, he knew how to solve problems. And he knew how to solve problems in a way that made people feel good about the solution. So it's been a lesson that I've stubbornly fought against for a long time. But as I've gotten older, and more involved, and being a strategist, I understood exactly what he was doing, and how to apply it to politics, most people just want to know that their problems are being considered, you know, take the time to do it. If you take the time to listen and evaluate, as opposed to firing off the handle and saying every damn thing you possibly can to rile people up, you're gonna get a lot farther in life. So

Brian Nichols  12:13  
and something you touched on there, I just wanted to focus maybe a little bit more is the importance of building that that genuine connection with your prospect, right? We talked about this in sales training as quote unquote, building rapport. I hate that I hate the term just building rapport. And then and then that should not be like a checklist in your your sales process, that should just be that that's evergreen, right? That's throughout the entirety of not just the sales process, because when you hit closed one on your Salesforce or your CRM, I actually I hate the term closed one, because the word closed implies done. It's not done your relationship with your prospect, which is now your customer is not done, it has just transitioned. And just like the whole building rapport aspect, the relationship that you have started to build will continue to grow and change as your relationship grows. And it's so important to treat and evil. Like people, I have one customer at my old company. I remember I went in to a cold call with their director of it. He ended up took the cold call, we had a face to face meeting Long story short, wasn't really an opportunity for us at that time. That was fine. No worries. I left up fast forward to like two hours later, I get back to the office and I have a voicemail, a voicemail, I'm a sales guy never get voicemail. I'm the one leaving voicemail. I check out and it ends up being from not the director of it, but rather one of his network admins who couldn't make the meeting because he was stuck in a meeting himself saying, hey, actually, I did actually have a request for you guys. We have the CEO of the company, he lives right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, zero internet access, like one of the most difficult places to actually get internet to. And we're struggling to get something anything because we actually have business use users who they work out of the CEOs, like there's an office part of the CEOs house. So if you can find something, that'd be great. Well, I say hey, you know what, I'll take a shot in the dark. I started digging through my different carriers I work with lo and behold, I have an satellite internet provider. You know, when you're on the airplane, and you get the internet bias, that same thing, same company, and I was like, Hey, I actually have an option for you. And as we started having this conversation, right and all sudden, I'm not only solving the problem we had, in this case trying to get internet, but then we built this great relationship we you know, he trusted me because I was able to help solve his problem. But then he brought me oodles of opportunities from different locations because they had different locations across the United States that pop up no need broadband Internet access that was sometimes difficult. I define. So he's like, this is a great option now going forward. So all of a sudden this little tiny was probably like 500 $600 account per month turned into like a 567 $1,000 per month. Yeah, account in the timeframe of a couple years? Well, I think that right there speaks to why it's so important to build relationships that are legitimate, long lasting, but also speak to the desires of that person. I know he's wanted a monologue there, Rob, but I'd love to get your context and your feedback from that. No,

Robert Lee  15:28  
no, it will. What everybody seems to forget when you're in sales, or politics or wherever Is it everything we do is person to person. Yes. And every healthy human relationship goes through stages, and goes through steps, that you have to invest in that particular step and the needs of that step in the relationship to make it something worthwhile to you and the person you're sharing that time with. And I have no qualms about telling people that I met my wife on match.com. Right, she had had very high standards. And I still don't know why she thought I met those standards. But either way, she had very high standards and wasn't happy with with the guys that she was being introduced to. And me on the other hand, I had just failed in every relationship in my life. So we both were on match.com, we got connected, we became aware of one another, then we spent time talking then we exchanged a phone number, and we met for coffee. And then we saw that the person we were spending time with was somebody amazing to us. And we eventually started dating exclusively bought a house got engaged, married, bought a bigger house had kids. And now we're talking about the rest of our lives together. Right? What what is it like growing older somebody that's a normal, healthy human relationship. And there's no reason our business relationships, our politic, political relationships, our social relationships, they should follow that same process. Now, of course, it's unique in each context. But what you're talking about, is building a human relationship with somebody a healthy human relationship with somebody where you're not always taking, but you're giving. And sometimes you need something, and that person that you have a healthy relationship will be able to give back to you. It's just Yes, what makes our lives better as people. And it doesn't matter what type of business we're in, doesn't matter what type of niche or industry or context. It's it's people, it's people connecting with people, it's a human to human process, everything we do. And as long as you keep that in mind, you tend to go you tend to go a lot farther and whatever it is you're you're trying to achieve.

Brian Nichols  17:47  
Amen. I can't agree more truly, Rob, um, I did have another question before we go towards the end of the episode here before we go to our final thoughts. And that was related towards, you know, as you're going through, and you've done a bazillion different marketing campaigns, is there anything you kind of look back at and you say, You know what, that was a particularly really good marketing campaign, we did maybe plant some seeds of ideas that some local candidates that we have at listen here in the audience could bring to their local campaigns, when they're going out and you know, trying to market to their prospective voters or their ideal voter personas in this case. So what I guess first, the memory or the specific marketing example, and then some specific recommendations to those local candidates.

Robert Lee  18:28  
Yeah, so I always go back to that race and 2016. And largely because it was just such a personally impactful race for me. But we eventually just started looking at people and saying, Look, if you can vote on this, or this, you should be able to have a have a voice in something much bigger. Right? It doesn't matter the size of the decision, you have to have a place because this is your government. When you remind people in our republican form of government, that they're the boss, and you treat them with the respect they deserve as a boss, you tend to earn their trust. And when you earn their trust, they give you the the they invest in you the authority, right. So if you're a candidate, whether you're running for mayor, whether you're running for Congress, whatever it is you're running, remind people that you were there to pay respect to your boss, the voter, the citizen, the person. And if you show them that respect, it will seep through in every form of marketing you do from direct mail, to digital to phone, banking, and canvassing. Just remember who the boss is. That is the lesson from every successful campaign. I've been a part of that. They all have that in common. They remembered who the boss was, I can repeat that over and over and over again and never say it enough. So that's that's the thing I try to remind myself of to when I'm consulting clients, that Let's remember who owns the decision here. It isn't it isn't you, it isn't me. You know, we're not selling ourselves. We're building a relationship with somebody. So just remember that it's so simple. It seems like it can't make sense. But guess what? Simple isn't bad. Everything we do should be simple enough to understand in those terms, and if we can't then we're overthinking it.

Brian Nichols  20:28  
The kiss method my great grandfather is smiling in his grave somewhere. Keep it simple, stupid. Come on. Yeah, and yeah, truly don't overthink things because more often than not the thought you have in your mind is just that a thought live in the real world live in the present and get out of your own way. Now, we are going unfortunately, Robbie this episode flew which I still I looked at the clock here I said what when that happened, but we are going towards the tail end here which we'd like to conclude with final thoughts. But first, but first I teased this in the intro because yes, we are here at our cardio miracles studio in lovely Eastern Indiana, which means I am obligated not by a contract, but because I feel I have to spread the good word about Yes, the cardio miracle cardio miracle is a carefully crafted supplement that combines the power of science and the power of nature to support your hearts optimal function. This remarkable and truly folks, it is a remarkable formula. It contains a unique blend of ingredients all backed by scientific research to increase nitric oxide levels in your blood. Now, nitric oxide What is it, it plays a vital role in promoting healthy blood circulation, which helps reduce inflammation and it protects your heart from damage. Now, I've been using cardio miracle for about three months. And I gotta tell you guys, the cardio miracle difference is real. Why choose cardio miracle? Well, you can elevate your heart health, because by boosting nitric oxide levels cardio miracle helps relax the blood vessels, it improves your circulation and reduces your blood pressure which yours truly has experienced as well. And if you experience and enhance blood flow to your heart and your vital organs, which helps support their optimal function, it energizes your life by the way. So say goodbye to fatigue and hello to increase energy levels because it helps fuel your body with essential nutrients allowing you to embrace each day with vitality and enthusiasm. My favorite benefits, sleep soundly enjoy restful nights and wake up rejuvenated, because cardio miracle promotes better sleep quality, and it helps your body and your mind receive the rest they deserve. And I'm going to tell you right now to experience the benefits firsthand with regular use, I can't necessarily promise but I can darn near say you can, you will almost guarantee experience a range of benefits, which will include, again, reducing your blood pressure, improving your blood flow of flow, protection against heart damage and increase energy levels that reduce fatigue and enhance sleep. So if you want to go ahead and take advantage of the cardio miracle, well, first of all, guess what, it's 100% money back guarantee. So There literally is no risk. And also, as a listener of The Brian Nichols Show audience, you get to get 15% off your order Accardi miracle today by using code TBNS. At checkout, if you go to cardio miracle.com and place your order use that discount code TBNS at checkout for 15% off your order or you want to get really easy, just go to the show notes, click the link in your show notes. It'll bring you right to the cardio miracle homepage but it'll have our referral code right there. Instantly apply that discount at checkout for you. So you don't have to go ahead and put a darn thing and how about that but if you want to go ahead and be old school just to see that nice 15% pop off after you put the code in because I know some of us are weird like that TBMs at checkout for 15% off your order and again, it is truly one of the best products I've used here on The Brian Nichols Show. I've been using it for three plus months now. And again I cannot vouch for it enough the cardio miracle difference is real. Get yours today. Brian Nichols show.com/cardio Miracle experience a cardio miracle difference for yourself. Alright, Rob, it's got our final thoughts I just rambled and ranted and raved there quite a bit. So I'm gonna go ahead and I'll forfeit my final thoughts six the audience hears we talk a lot. And I will go ahead and say for your final thoughts, please share with us obviously, where you want the audience to leave today's episode, but also, where can folks go ahead and follow you continue the conversation? Should they want to reach out after today's episode?

Robert Lee  24:40  
Absolutely. So my first final thought is to express gratitude to you, Ryan, for having me on for a few moments today of your time. Because anytime I get a chance to spread the good word is is a good day. So I appreciate that. But beyond that, regardless of whatever it is that you do whatever Whatever industry or niche that you're in, or if you have an urge to go out there, and change the world is a good person and do great things, connect with people listen to their story, understand how you can help make their life better deliver hope, and the world would be a lot better place. And part of what we do for that is we actually are starting to utilize AI in a lot of our political strategy in our campaign planning. So if anybody has any interest in learning how to build a political campaign from the ground up, instead of taking weeks taking hours, visit dominate dot least six media.com You can use the code Brian to get an additional $250 off the registration fee. If you register before September 7. It's basically 50% off of the registration fee, and you're going to get the ability to connect with other members of the political movement that you belong to, and be able to build a campaign strategy from the ground up. And I'm even going to be there through the entire process to help you along the way and not just help you but educate you on how you can do all of this. If you want to learn more about what we do lease six media.com is the place to go. But I would love to see anybody who's interested in our election domination mastermind. And you can again sign up for that dominate.ly Six media.com

Brian Nichols  26:30  
Oh, I love it. And to make it easy for you folks. I know half of you folks are lifting weights in the gym right now. We're driving your kids to school while you're listening to the episode. No worries, just go back to today's episode show notes. Click the links there. They're all going to be included right there for you for afterwards. So no worries at all. But with that being said, Folks, please You know the drill Go ahead, share today's episode when you do please tag yours truly at BT Nichols liberty, Robert, where can folks go ahead and follow you again,

Robert Lee  26:58  
lease expedia.com. If you'd like to get connected to me on Facebook or Instagram, it's just whatever the website is backslash, R, W li to, and you'll see a lot of good stuff there. But more importantly, you'll connect with a real person that likes to share funny jokes, good AI generated images, maybe just a rant about soccer, or whatever it might be. But we connect with real people on my account. So I'd love to be connected to you as well.

Brian Nichols  27:27  
There you go, folks. Well, there's your call to action. And with that being said again, yes being Nichols liberty, Twitter, slash x.com and Facebook. And also if you want to go ahead, support us on the video version of the show YouTube rumble or Ben swans a sovereign s o v r e n is how you go ahead and spell that and if you are joining us on sovereign wealth, congratulations, you see today's episode before everyone else as a sovereign exclusive my gift to you and if you are joining us on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and a little notification bell so you don't miss a single time when we go live. And by the way, if you are joining us on the YouTubes both Thank you hit that like button as well. That helps us reach more people and it helps with the algos. And yes, we are a podcast as well. So Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube music, wherever it is, you get your podcasts, hit that subscribe button. And by the way, we have 760 plus other episodes here on the show. So you want to go back into the archives, or you're like I wonder if Brian talked about this at one point in time, probably go back into the archives I guarantee in the 760 episodes that we probably answered your question, but if not, email me Brian at Brian Nichols show.com And we'll make sure we address it on a future episode. But with that being said, Folks, thank you for joining us. Brian Nichols signing off here on The Brian Nichols Show for Robert Lee. We'll see you next time.

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