What should you write about the day before the presidential election?
Here's a weird bit of time travel: You're probably reading this post on Wednesday morning or sometime after the presidential election is over. That means you already know who our next president is going to be.
But I wrote this post before the election. And even though it was pretty clear to me who would prevail, there's no way to know for sure.
That means I'm writing this for you even though you will be a changed person by the time you read this. How can I make my post All About Them when I don't know exactly who you will be?
So what should you write about? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Sure, I could take the easy way out and write about an entirely different subject — Building Brand Value — for example, or effective customer service practices. But let's be honest. While you might care passionately about those things most of the time, right now it's all election all the time.
And even if you're suffering from election PTSD (Post (election) Term Stress Disorder) it would still be extremely tough to capture and keep your attention if I wrote about anything other than the election.
Of course I could take the easy way out by recapping what's already happened over the last two years. But seeing as we both know that already there doesn't seem to be much value in an exercise like that.
I could simply write about my personal opinion of the election. But we've all been beaten to death with other people's election opinions and none of that helped anyone change their minds anyway.
An interesting subject could be what all of the election fall-out is going to do to Trump's business brand. But that's a subject that's been written about extensively.
Plus, it's pretty clear to anyone paying attention that before the election, Trump's brand was known for being luxurious and brash. Now, it's about being crass and angry. Even Trump's biographer, Michael D'Antonio, went on CNN's Reliable Sources and said “I'm hearing that his brand equity is plummeting.” And tourism statistics show Trump's hotel occupancy has decreased over 17% while visits by female travelers have seen a double-digit drop.
Before you think I'm taking sides here, know that the Trump organization is concerned about this issue too. According to the Chicago Tribune, “Donald J. Trump's latest business venture is conspicuously missing the one thing brandished on everything from casinos to pearl-encrusted table lamps: His name.” Instead, Trump's new hotel venture will “be called Scion, offering an alternative to Trump Hotels.”
But if Trump's already been elected then this point may be moot. After all, if you can't sleep in the president's bedroom, maybe you would like to sleep in the president's hotel room, regardless of what the building is called?
I'd say time will tell but by the time you're reading this time has told and you already know.
So what should you write about? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
As you've probably figured out by now, I haven't figured it out yet. Instead, I'll leave you with the words of a president I'm sure we can all agree on – Abraham Lincoln – and then next week we can continue our conversations about how to build a powerful, All About Them brand.