Did Psychographics Make Trump President?

Arguably, one of the most spectacular marketing successes this year was the election of Donald Trump. Many are still puzzled how such awkward candidate could win. End of last year, a Swiss magazine offered an interesting, but daunting explanation: London-based marketing and data service provider Cambridge Analytica's huge analysis of American voters' social data, the Psychographic profiling of millions, and the corresponding micro-targeting advice to Trump's campaign team was decisive for the tight victory.

Cambridge Analytica's alleged involvement in the Brexit campaign and Steve Bannon as board member certainly make the story a thriller. While it is not possible to prove or disprove the claim without access to the corresponding data (and there are quite some doubts in place), the interesting message is: Social Data powered Psychographics could have made Trump President; and it will without a doubt be key to target and convert individuals in the future. This is why I put Psychographics as first P in the 10P of Digital Marketing.

The 10P of Digital Marketing

The term "Marketing" is used in very different meanings, ranging from covering all aspects of market-oriented business mgmt to the merely operational planning and execution of campaigns and promotions. With reference to the latter definition, "Digital Marketing" is often confined to the employment of digital technologies for the purpose of delivering communication.

Such confined view on "Digital Marketing" however doesn't capture the strategic dimension, which should come first: in the same way as Strategic Marketing begins with thorough market research and customer understanding to develop the value proposition, position the brand and to define the marketing mix for customer approach, Digital Marketing should contribute to all these aspects  - it should comprise the 10P, which are laid out in this article. Digital technologies have the power to radically augment the entire value chain of marketing: