Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. After he got hired to be part of President Trump’s legal team to defend Trump’s rights and interests during the Mueller investigation, Trump supporters were encouraged – the pugnacious former New York prosecutor would surely help Trump’s cause.
But Giuliani quickly found himself in the headlines – not for his brilliant legal strategies and his media acumen, but for a bunch of blundering mistakes, bizarre television interviews, and unforced errors. People all over the political, legal and media landscapes are wondering what’s wrong with Rudy. Rudy’s missteps are flying so fast and furious, CNN had to make a list of “21 head-scratching lines from a(nother) disastrous Rudy Giuliani interview.”
Even if you’re not a lawyer or a Washington power player or a media celebrity, there are lots of lessons from Giuliani’s recent public performances that marketers can learn. Here are some “Dos” and “Don’ts” we’ve learned from watching Rudy Giuliani:
DON’T: Be bigger than the brand you represent.
Every marketer, whether you’re a small business owner or a marketing agency account manager or a sales person, or even a celebrity spokesperson, is in the business of representing something larger than yourself: you’re representing a brand, a business, an organization or a cause. Don’t become the story. (This same problem led to the downfall of Papa John).
If Rudy was doing his job the right way, the news would be focused on the bigger story of Trump’s case and his team’s legal arguments. Instead, the stories are about how flabbergasted and out-of-his-depth Rudy looked on TV. Rudy is a hired gun — he shouldn’t be getting more publicity than his boss.
DON’T: Be inconsistent with your messaging.
Rudy keeps changing his story about what he knows, what Donald Trump knew, what happened when regarding the $130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, allegedly as hush money for an affair that she had…
