Here’s a Marketing Wisdom tip that should be obvious to everyone after the recent Presidential election. If you want to win hearts and minds to your business, product or service, offer HOPE!

President-elect Barack Obama has never run any organization of significance and his record in the Senate is anything but definitive. Before the campaigning began he was virtually unknown outside of Illinois, yet he defeated better-known politicians backed by legions of passionate followers. In the end, he persuaded a majority of Americans to trust him with their future by emphasizing his belief that he can change their future for the better. Now, if that’s not a classic brand promise, I don’t know what is.

Obama’s election should bring encouragement to anyone bringing a new product to market, and it should remind anyone marketing a category leader to take a hard look at their marketing message. But – most important – I believe that the lesson of Obama’s campaign for every single marketer out there that they should emphasize the future and not dwell on the past…or the present for that matter.

Right now the nation is gripped in a paralysis of fear and regret. The national soundtrack is provided by the media who are constantly clanging the bells of DOOM. The nation’s mood ring, a.k.a, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has turned a mordant black. Pundits are making specious comparisons between 2008 and 1931, and calling Obama the new FDR. Given the drastic decline in readers of printed news media, I guess I can’t blame the press for trying to boost their sagging sales by smearing the coming apocalypse across their front pages.

But let’s state the obvious…2008 is not 1931. Despite the fact that a recent graph of the DJIA looks like a seismograph recording a magnitude 10.5 earthquake, America is still the dominant economic force in the world. When pundits crow that “things have changed” all they’re really saying is that things aren’t the same as they were yesterday. Well, duh!

One more thing: if you look at the credentials and the agendas of the people who are telling you that America has been brought to her knees, and that our days of glory are gone, please note that these Jeremiahs carry a brief for burning Old Glory in the streets. Many of them belong to the gang that told us the 9/11 terrorists were justified in their heinous behavior. Others belong to the crowd that wants to limit the US Navy from testing its Sonar lest the dolphins get nosebleeds. And others are…well, French…or they are fellow purveyors of ritual anti-American diatribe otherwise known as east coast liberals. You know these people: they believe that Michael Moore creates fact-based documentaries, Oliver Stone has talent, and Al Gore invented the Internet.

Aside from these crepe hangers who delight in wallowing in the current national angst, most of the rest of us would like to put our hair shirts back into storage and get back to work. And if you want to appeal to us, offer us something that will help us do just that. Obama offered us attitude. In fact he did little more that repackage that most fundamental of American traits – the “can do” spirit.

I’m not talking about flag waiving. Despite the fact that we’re fighting two wars in the Middle East this is not the time for jingoism. However, I do think that Americans need to be reminded that we are an immensely resilient, resourceful and creative people. When you hold our feet to the fire, we can work as smart as Japanese, as hard as Koreans, and as selflessly as Chinese. Perhaps that’s why there are so many Japanese, Koreans and Chinese building careers and families in America.

I suggest that, instead of hunkering down under the bed and waiting for the storm to pass, you might give some thought to the fact that – like you – your customers need some encouragement that their good times aren’t all past and gone. Pull up your socks, square your shoulders and show the world what you’re made of. By definition, your business, product, or service exists to improve the lives of people. When you tell people this, you are offering them hope.

The foundation of America is the hope that we all can live a better life, so let’s all start acting like Americans.

When it comes to folks who want to do their own marketing, as opposed to paying for someone who has spent their career in marketing or at least qualifies as a marketing professional, the evident lack of Marketing Wisdom is embarrasing to witness and can even be a kind of death wish for the business. Given the home-grown marketing efforts that I’ve witnessed in my career, perhaps the best piece of Marketing Wisdom that I can pass along to these would-be Do-It-Yourselfer is…don’t. Hire someone who knows what they’re doing. After all, it’s in your own best interests.

One question I’ve never understood is why people would treat their businesses with less concern than they do their persons. Nobody who’s serious about their personal image cuts their own hair. Why? Because how you look effects what people think about you and how they treat you. For the most part, people want to look their best and/or they don’t want to be laughed at. Yet, a huge swath of businesses for reasons that span the gamut from “saving money” to “marketing’s no big deal” will personally execute their company’s logo, ads and website. The amateurish results speak for themselves.

The amazing thing to me is that many otherwise smart, sophisticated business men and women have a blind spot when it comes to their marketing – often ranking it on the importance scale somewhere below organizing the company party. Here’s a case in point…

A local bank that I’ve worked with on and off over the years recently replaced their senior management with some fresh blood. This was before the national financial melt-down and – to my knowledge – had nothing to with their financial management. The bank maintains that it is solvent and thanks to their relatively prudent lending practices have little if any exposure to the risky loans that have come back to haunt so many “major” banks.

In fact, this bank has of late been proudly touting this information in some local newspaper ads. At least I think that’s what they’re saying. Thanks to a combination of strange color choices and poor judgment regarding the use of white type against a pastel background the ads are very hard to read.

Since a fundamental tenet of advertising layout is “make the message legible,” whoever designed the ad – whether it was the publication (in my neck of the woods, the media will offer free design services…further proof that you get what you pay for) or a bank employee who happens to know how to work a page layout program – whoever designed that ad was clearly not someone used to creating advertising.

Then I note on Craig’s List (Yes, like you, I’m always looking for work) a posting for a job at this very same bank for an employee whose principal responsibility will be to manage the bank’s customer lists. Toward the bottom in the lengthy job description there is a mention of a requirement that this employee be familiar with some computer design software because the job responsibilities include managing the bank’s…brand!

Obviously, the bank’s management doesn’t consider the job of managing their brand important enough to warrant the care and attention of someone with training, skill and experience in Brand Management. No, basic software skills will be sufficient.

Well, there you go. Brand Management, which is one of the essentials of successful marketing, is treated as an afterthought by the bank’s HR folks presumably at the direction of the bank’s management. Granted, maintaining customer lists is a valuable task but I would think – especially in this economy – getting new customers to add that list (a.k.a., marketing) might rank somewhat higher on their list of priorities.

Those of you who read the Bible will be familiar with the Parable of the Talents. For those who don’t read the Bible, the story goes that a king called in three servants and gave each of them a “talent,” that is to say, a sum of money to invest. Sometime later, he called them back for an accounting of their efforts on his behalf. Two of the servants had put the king’s money to work, were able to return much larger amounts, and so were handsomely rewarded. The third, fearing the king’s wrath if he screwed up, buried the talent so, at least, he wouldn’t lose it. The king was not pleased, for he didn’t see this servant’s actions as wise frugality but as slothful ignorance. The servant was punished because he missed the point of his assignment.

What’s the connection?

Of course, the parable’s larger message has to do with spreading the Gospel, but I believe the parable also speaks to a kind of ignorant frugality and the folly of “missing the (the larger) point.”

And, what is my point? Well, if you have to ask I guess you’ll continue to save money by doing your own marketing and when your efforts fail to produce the desired effect you’ll feel justified in saying, “It’s best to focus on maintaining my customer lists.”