No matter who you voted for, this was an historic election.

With that in mind, there are five lessons all marketers can learn from both the Obama and McCain marketing campaigns. These are general principles that you can use, whether you’re selling a bar of soap or a political candidate. Here they are:

1. Stay on Message: Both candidates, but particularly Obama, developed a message strategy early in the campaign and never strayed from it. Obama’s theme was “Change” and McCain’s was “Country First.” Even when current events (like the economic melt-down) forced a change of focus, the overall theme stayed the same.
2. Occasionally, Do Something Unexpected: There will be those who disagree with us on this, but our point-of-view is that McCain’s selection of Palin was a brilliant move. Yes, she came up light on experience, but remember — prior to the announcement that she was going to be his running mate, McCain was dropping in the polls. The selection of Palin added a new energy to the campaign and, as a result, McCain’s numbers jumped 5 to 8 points, nearly putting him ahead of Obama.
3. Develop Grass Roots Campaigns: Both McCain and Obama used Social Media to inspire their political base. You could argue that Obama did a better job of it, but both candidates recognized that a good marketing campaign uses everything from slick TV commercials to text messages to communicate their messages.
4. Stay Above the Fray: It doesn’t matter if you’re Crest Toothpaste, Enterprise Car Rental or Starbucks, when you’re the leader in the category, it’s your job to take the high road. We’re fortunate that the days of Bush-era “Swiftboat” techniques are behind us, but it’s particularly interesting that Obama, as the market leader through most of the campaign, followed the classic marketing principle that the leader in any campaign should take the high road and rise above any mud slinging that goes on.
5. Be Relentless: Do you know that John McCain flew to 5 different states on the last day of the campaign? Remember, as a marketer, your job is to keep pushing to the very end of your campaign. Don’t let up. Don’t relax. When your campaign is completed, there’ll be plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your success. But until that time, stay on message and keep pushing for victory.

There are many other lessons to be learned from this campaign. If you have thoughts or idea on how marketers of all stripes can learn from the successes of the McCain and Obama campaigns, let us know about them!