Donald Trump is a polarizing political figure, without a doubt. Since he announced his Presidency last June, his face has been seen everywhere: social media, the news, magazines, thinkpieces posted on Facebook, the list is endless. This isn’t the first time that Trump has made a shot at the Presidency, but this is the first time that he’s had a decent shot at winning it. While he has no shortage of critics and enemies, Trump has been gaining steady support, and is more and more likely to earn the GOP nomination. Yet regardless of your political affiliation, there are still plenty of things you can learn from Trump. I recently came across a blog post that discusses some of the things that fundraisers can learn from him. This is no endorsement of Trump, but it does raise some interesting points:
He understands his audience: Trump’s campaign is focusing on a specific group of people, and he’s telling them what they want to hear. His focus is so fine-tuned on this demographic that people outside of the group are scratching their heads. Even if it comes at the cost of excluding people outside of it, embracing a specific group is a good fundraising tactic. Knowing your audience, understanding what they care about and talking to them in their language is a great way to win them over.
He understands the power of emotion: Trump isn’t wasting his time with any complicated rational cases; most of his stances are simple and easy to understand. People think from their hearts, not their heads, so this tactic beats a long-winded (but well thought-out) slam-dunk argument.
He understands the importance of a good enemy: People are much more motivated by the thought of defeating a concrete enemy than by keeping things going. Giving your supporters a problem to solve is a better way to motivate them than a successful program to fund.
He doesn’t care what people say: Even if he has notoriously thin skin, and you can hardly log onto Facebook without hearing some criticism of him, Trump doesn’t let any of these criticisms change his ways. Good fundraising generates complaints; you should be more concerned about how much you’re raising than by what people have to say about it.