Round One of the PR Battle Goes to McCain

There’s no doubt that since John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, the Republican ticket has generated an incredible amount of buzz and positive momentum. And there is also no doubt that McCain has been winning the PR battle: getting his messages out, getting Obama off message and responding to McCain’s charges, and getting Obama to fall into the rookie trap of the “negative repeat.” Example:

“John McCain is not a maverick.” 

That may sound like a straight-forward statement, but it actually works against the speaker, because it gets them saying the words “John McCain” and “maverick” in the same sentence. If you’re on message, you say, “John McCain represents the status quo.” That gets the words “John McCain” and “status quo” in the same sentence. See? Here’s a business example:

Q: “Is your company poorly managed?”

Bad Answer: “Our company is not poorly managed.”

Good Answer: “Our company is considered one of the best-managed companies in our field.” 

Here’s a link for Obama fans only: a post with 10 Tips for Obama to win the PR battle

Note to McCain supporters: send me links to pro-McCain PR items and I’ll link to them too, as long as they’re not partisan rants.