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I don’t believe in leaving my success up to the market, the weather or the economy. If you’re reading this, you likely don’t either. However, I also don’t believe in ignoring tough opponents like the market, weather, or economy. It’s no secret that elections often create uncertainty for all, and for business big and small, concern over future tax rules, government regulations and how they could potentially impact operations. 

As of my writing, President Elect Donald Trump just edged out Hillary in a bizarre and historic election. I say bizarre, because as I watched Fox news Tuesday night nearly every expert including the hosts, polling experts, Washington and political professional guests either outright predicted a Hillary landslide win, or carried a subtle but noticeable anti-Trump tone. Early in the evening, and well into prime time, polling specialists laid out every theoretically conceivable way each candidate could navigate through the tricky electoral vote system for a win. Pretty much all coming to the same conclusion that the Democrats would maintain the Presidency for a 3rd straight term.   

I have a hard time watching blowout games, and was about to check out when they displayed an interesting stat on the jumbo-tron. It was a social media update, just before heading to a commercial that showed Trump had significantly more ‘mentions’ on Facebook than his competitor. The commentators didn’t seem too interested, but as a marketer I took notice. Obviously, a ‘mention’ could be in good or bad context, but it was stimulating enough to keep me engaged. Fast forward another hour or so, with a steady sentiment that Hillary was in control, then it was announced Trump had won the swing state of North Carolina.  While all other ‘experts’ didn’t seem swayed, one commentator looked at his smart phone and shared that the ‘odds’ had just swung to over 70% that Trump would win. This really caught my attention for two reasons. One, it was the first mention in 4 hours that the underdog even had a remote chance.  Two, and more importantly, to me ‘odds’ implied Vegas, betting, and the principle based movement of money. Not necessarily anything to do with politics, Washington, traditional media, and smoke and mirrors. And you know how the story ends.

I’m not one to watch a lot of politics on TV, but there were some big takeaways for me. Traditional media is slanted, social media is very powerful, and I have to stay focused on ‘my economy’ and not get sucked into those ‘other economies’ outside of my control. 

Here’s how it was explained to me. There are 3 economies. One is the ‘Political’ economy where Washington operatives, lawyers, lobbyists, and lifelong politicians revolve around a fake money machine, much paid for by you and I, which is littered with corruption. Then there is the ‘Wall Street’ fake economy where industry insiders and researchers seek to capitalize profits in any manner possible, including fraud and collusion, to maximize personal enrichment. Then, of course, there is a conduit of systemic corruption and legalized bribery flowing between the two. 

The 3rd economy is Main Street America, where you and I live, in your town and mine. Where small-to-medium sized business drive the economy, do real work, and provide real jobs. In the first two economies, up is often down, and left is often right. No logic. However, in the Main Street economy honesty, hard work, and smart business reign supreme. 

This is important to understand, because only in the 3rd economy do the laws of nature have authority. In the first two, it’s a fantasy land. You and I have to understand where we live and work, in the Main Street economy, and not drift over into watching and copycatting those other two worlds which have no relevance to us. 

In 2010 small business made up 99.7% of employment firms. There were 27.9 million small businesses with 500 employees or less, and only 18,500 with 500 or more. Small business accounted for 67% of new jobs between 2009 to 2011. *

However, only about half of all new businesses make it 5 years, and only 1/3 make it 10 years. Some of this failure surely comes from those not understanding which economy they are really in, and instead they end up embracing and emulating the big corrupt world of the first two economies. This is easy to do, because even though the Main Street Economy is the backbone of our economy, it’s not what you see and hear all over the news. 

To tie this into Marketing, be very aware, paranoid, and even skeptical of some of the advice given to you from traditional media reps, and fancy award winning ad agencies backing some of the OEM’s. They’re often operating out of Washington and Wall Street and don’t even know it. 

Here at Powersports Marketing we focus on the principles of marketing first. Right Message, Right Media, Right Audience, and the Right Timing. We specialize in growing new market share and increasing retention for Main Street motorcycle dealers. I’m glad this damn election is over, now lets you and I get out there and sell some bikes and do our part to make Main Street the best street regardless of the market, weather, or economy by staying focused on our world, not theirs.  

*Bureau of Labor statistics