Donald Trump has delivered a thriller on lines of "House of Cards" or even better. From fiction, he has become a reality. The dark protagonist of the American political stage is the new hero. His celebrity and wealthy status along with a great PR campaign across all platforms has made him US president.
According a news article in The Washington Post in March this year, if Republicans nominate Donald Trump as their presidential candidate, he would be the least popular major party nominee in at least three decades of Washington Post - ABC News polling. Trump's unfavorable rating stood at 67 percent - two-thirds of all Americans - in a March Post - ABC poll, including 56 percent who had a "strongly" unfavorable impression of him. Just 3 in 10 had a favorable impression of Trump (15 percent "strongly")."
Well, he has proven polls and psephologists wrong. The most unfavorable candidate is now the President, and how.
There has been a well-tailored communication strategy behind Trump. He was already a known face in the US. All he did was to create controversies around him which appealed to a certain section. He banked on the "curiosity" clicks. What are "curiosity" clicks? The content which is usually outrageous, gossipy and controversial get the maximum 'curiosity' clicks. Trump played on this psyche of people and churned out some most outrageous and controversial media in the history of the American politics.
Check these quotes of Donald Trump:
"You know, it really doesn't matter what the media write as long as you've got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass."
"I will build a great wall - and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me - and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words."
"The beauty of me is that I'm very rich."
"I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her."
"My Twitter has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth."
His abrasive remarks on Mexican immigrants or Muslims, made him even more popular. He was unapologetically racist and he found a section of people who loved him for that. Media latched on to his every word and he became a social media "villain" who people loved to hate. The initial hate turned into admiration when people found him honest and speaking in language which directly engaged with vote bank. He would not engage in "political" speak like other contenders.
His communication strategy was consistent and Trump never changed his stand. He stuck to his statements unapologetically and media splashed them all over. His every remark became a hashtag on Twitter; his every video upload got lakhs of clicks. Trump found a direct audience among people favoring him on twitter and other social media platforms. He started direct interaction with these people on internet. This increased his popularity manifolds and each poll started making Trump a bigger star.
As part of good communication exercise, Trump picked up topics for which Obama administration was receiving flak. Not only this, he found out the weaknesses of his opponents and exploited them. This way, he became the hero of many who started deriving strength from him.
He gave what media was looking for: "rhetorics". His well crafted media strategy ensured that he is projected as a hero who will come and fix everything that the American people were tired from - terrorism, illegal immigration problem, joblessness etc.
Guest Author
The author is a digital consultant specialising in image management and brand promotion, and a former journalist
