5
The Whole of the Sum

By Chip Kessler

A great marketer avoids the trap of utilizing just one or two methods to get his or her message out to people It was true before Dr. John R. Brinkley burst onto the scene and it is true today. The only thing that has changed since Brinkley’s time is the tools we use in this day and age, and the fact that there are more media resources available to us as marketers than ever before.

Rather than begin by telling you what Brinkley did utilize in order to spread the gospel about himself and his cure, let us first list everything that he didn’t have in his marketing tool box: television, the internet, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, other social media, Amazon, e-books, YouTube, viral video, fax, broadcast fax, the vast commercially available databases and mailing lists, and, well, the list is long, and longer by the day. But what John Brinkley did was utilize every significant media resource available at the time, and pioneer new ways of using them. To use a cliché, he left no stone unturned. As you’ll see, he made extensive use of:

Direct Mail

Newspaper advertising

Radio advertising—including his own ‘programs’

Film

Books

Speaking before interested audiences

Publicity

Later within these pages, we will delve deeper into the specific methods employed, but suffice to say for our purposes here that John R. Brinkley was not content with merely placing an advertisement in a local newspaper, or running a commercial on a local radio station. Instead, Brinkley’s marketing breakthrough was to control both the message itself and the means of how it was delivered. To not only use media, but to own it.

We see this concept practiced today, though perhaps in a more polished fashion. Take for example, Donald Trump’s very successful television show, The Apprentice, followed by The Celebrity Apprentice. While no one can argue the program’s entertainment value and that there can be some valuable marketing lessons learned from each episode, the show also serves as a strategic means for “The Donald” to further his own brand, whether it is in his business dealings and/or to add to his status and recognition as an authority figure. Can there be any doubt that the savvy Mr. Trump has benefited business-wise from such national television exposure? Likewise, his number of best-selling books and occasional appearances on the lecture circuit only add to his status as one of the reigning experts in his fields of business and finance. If Donald Trump’s core business is real estate, his second business brand licensing, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that his third business is the media business, and his over-arching business is being Donald Trump.

The same can also be said (for its own specific intended consequences) for former Arkansas Governor and 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. These days, Mr. Huckabee spends his time as a television personality on the Fox News Cable Channel. In addition his Huckabee Report is broadcast daily on radio stations across the United States. As well, Governor Huckabee keeps a busy schedule of personal speaking engagements all over the nation, with additional personal appearances promoting the books he has authored. What is the purpose for his extremely busy and challenging calendar of events and activities? It isn’t hard to figure out for the expert marketer. He ranks high on the list of preferred GOP Presidential candidates among likely Republican voters for the 2012 election, and he hasn’t given up on his ambition. Mike Huckabee certainly knows that in politics, keeping one’s name before the public has become a full-time job. No place is this more evident than in the Presidential sweepstakes. The prospective Presidential candidate can no longer wait until a few months before his or her party’s Presidential state primaries or caucuses to throw their name out there for consideration. A good example of this was the case of former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee. The lawyer turned actor turned politician turned actor turned politician entered the GOP field rather late in the game with hopes of garnering his party’s nomination in 2008. His late entrance soon turned into an early exit. One of the key factors here was the fact that despite Thompson having decent name recognition it wasn’t strong enough when compared to the likes of the eventual Republican nominee Senator John McCain or several others in the field of candidates, including Mike Huckabee. The marketing lesson here: timing still matters, but what Dan Kennedy calls ‘omnipresence’ is far more reliable and powerful. It’s best to be visible to your target audience as much as possible, as often as possible, in as many places (media) as possible.

Whether Governor Huckabee again runs for President and if he does, then goes on to gain his party’s nomination or not, will play itself out down the road. However for marketing purposes, his active participation media-wise is already paying dividends towards his potential future goal of White House aspirations. He’s in the game by virtue of media exposure. As is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, via bestselling book, appearances everywhere—even in ‘enemy territory’ like Oprah, on FOX, etc. It probably even helps more than hurts for her to be the brunt of jokes on Leno, Letterman and SNL, and subject of criticism and derision on MSNBC.

Dr. John R. Brinkley had aspirations too. And some 80 years before a Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump or any number of the media and marketing savvy personalities we see parading in front of our eyes and ears, there was John R. Brinkley doing whatever it took to sell himself and his cure. He stayed more targeted in his outreach, but still used every media, and fought for constant exposure to the public eye.