Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2007. When she announced her decision to run, I looked at how her message got out. Regardless of her policies, you have to appreciate some of the marketing genius Clinton put in that went towards her target audience.

First, if her goal was to reach a particular target market, that is, younger voters, then kudos to her for using this new technology. She must have been reading the data that show that fewer and fewer young people get their news from TV and fewer even still from traditional print media such as newspapers. Hers is a good example of taking your message to where your market is. She knew that making the announcement and having it on the front page of newspapers, even major newspapers, across the country would have little or no impact on the market that includes younger voters. She tried something she knew would appeal to that younger market.

When you see someone in a particular market or who has an ad you think is particularly effective or who has used media in an innovative way, and you decide to just copy it, be very sure that it fits into your own marketing plan. Copying for copying’s sake can prove costly and unproductive if you don’t know what’s behind what you see someone else doing.

For instance, when I published my 5 Deadly Sins book, people told me how to organize it better and how to make it more stylish (prettier). They didn’t understand that my purpose was not to sell more books. Rather, my purpose was the most basic of all: to capture people’s contact information once they had raised their hand and expressed interest in what I had to offer. Just this week a lawyer called who is not a member who wanted a copy of my Yellow Page ad. (Then he called the next day wondering why I hadn’t sent it—that was irritating.) Anyway, I faxed it to him and told him he’d be a fool to try to copy the ad without understanding what’s going on in the background.

In fact, Hilary’s announcement itself created news. I’m not talking about the formal announcement of her presidential aspirations. That has been talked about for quite some time, so no one was really surprised at the message itself. No, I’m talking about the way she did it. Her very use of this technology has made news and probably has given her more attention than if she’d done it the old fashioned way – announce you’re going to make an announcement, call a press conference, make the announcement, and get headlines of some sort in newspapers.

I didn’t go searching for Hilary’s clip on Google or otherwise, but my guess is that her goals go beyond just getting people to do an online search of her clip and be persuaded to send her money or vote for her. My guess is that she’s used this as a way to grow her herd. And if that wasn’t one of her goals, then she’s missed a great opportunity.