It’s tempting to try to scrub away every fake-orange pixel that lodged in our brains over the past four years. To erase every smug grin, ill-fitting suit, and pompous symbol of the Trump administration’s chaos and cruelty from our minds, and fill the space with images of puppies, rainbows, and normal, baby-kissing politicians. But. (Deep, calming breath). There’s something Trump “gets” that we don’t: no one knows what you’ve accomplished unless you tell them. From having people photograph him signing blank pieces of paper to delaying vital aid payments so he could slap his signature on the checks, Trump took every opportunity to show how we were winning “bigly” with him in office. He got where he is because he’s a master of self-promotion, and we got where we are politically in part because half the country thinks that the government does nothing but give their tax dollars to lazy people...and we’ve done a terrible job of correcting them. So how can Democrats champion “using government for good” when a huge chunk of Americans don’t believe in the government? The same way we try to get people elected—with strategic, intuitive marketing.
First, it helps to see how we got here. It’s no secret that conservatives have spent decades advocating for smaller government, pushing for privatization as the end-all-be-all to social problems, and perpetuating stereotypes about which people use government services, but let’s focus on the past four years. One of the many evil genius tactics of Trump’s administration was sabotaging federal agencies by denying them stable leadership, staff, adequate funding, or all of the above, and then holding up their failures as evidence that government is incapable of solving our problems...as if any organization can thrive with slashed budgets, nonexistent direction, and minimal staff. After years of this kind of messaging, even people who are for “bigger government” start to question its abilities and critique its performance. Consequently, for a party focused on increasing government intervention, the first challenge is convincing people that the government is good at what it’s already doing...and then, that we should be spending our hard-earned tax dollars to make it do more.
Now for the silver lining. Even though the dumpster fire of 2020 reminded us all how hard it is to change someone’s mind (facts be damned), when it comes to the government’s reputation, there’s still hope for a rebound. Amy Lerman, who wrote the book “Good Enough for Government Work,” argues that when people have positive interactions with the government in their own lives, they begin to view the government as more capable and helpful. Similarly, Ethan Porter, author of “The Consumer Citizen,” notes that, throughout history, the federal government has publicized its accomplishments and worked to shape its image through marketing. Bringing people around to see the power of government won’t be easy, but it’s been done before, and, with the right approach, can be done again.
To be effective, marketing tactics must evolve to meet audiences where they already are. In today’s consumeristic culture, Porter has observed that people expect the government to meet their needs in the same way companies do—by offering a fair return on their investments. It turns out that even taxpayers tend to believe there’s “no such thing as a free lunch.” In marketing experiments, Porter found that candidate mailers seeming to promise people more services than they expected for their money were viewed less favorably than those offering a perceived “even trade” of tax dollars for services. This is similar to how a consumer might find a deep discount “too good to be true” and question the quality of a product as a result. Launching an effective reelection campaign for the federal government will take more than peddling feel-good stories about how government-subsidized health care is saving babies or curing cancer. It will mean showing people all the ways in which the government intersects within their lives, and doing the cost-benefit analysis for them so they can see how they’re getting what they’re paying for (even if, in many cases, they’re getting much more).
This one example is a shallow dive into a deep well of information and strategy, but it demonstrates how critical it is to get your messaging right the first time. Treating citizens like consumers is an insightful tactic we can use to help constituents and community members see their government in a new light. From raising awareness of government accomplishments to connecting the dots between citizens’ tax dollars and government services, effective marketing can help us garner support for “bigger government” even in the context of a divided political system. We won’t change minds overnight, but evolving our marketing with our culture will help us resonate with the most important people in a campaign: our citizens.