Sales and Marketing is 24/7

Last week there was an article on Forbes.com titled Genuine Business Lessons from Donald Trump by Shaun Rein, who is the founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group. He writes for Forbes on strategy, leadership and marketing, and I found his insights to be right on.

All of them are helpful to anyone interested in success, and here are a few for your review: 

• Trump has mastered the art of defining the core values of his brand and leveraging his brand equity to appeal to a wide customer base. In a time when consumers are seeking to stretch their shopping dollars further than ever before by buying brands they trust and know are of good value, companies absolutely need to define themselves and differentiate themselves. The winners will be those who carve out and cultivate their brand positions. They can take many cues from Trump. 

• Trump has been so successful in large part because he has managed to build a lifestyle brand around the luxurious and successful life that he lives and most people aspire to...his new ventures are selected to dovetail with his core image.  

• When he sells a suit in the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection or says “You’re Fired!” on his wildly successful The Apprentice, consumers connect. They believe that a man who has made and lost and re-made billions knows what a good suit is, just as, when they see him dressing down a contestant on his TV show, they believe he knows what it takes to be a successful manager. 

• Trump realizes that sales and marketing is 24/7.

Mr. Rein gives good examples and I would suggest you read his article in its entirety at www.forbes.com