Most of the time, when a business fails, it’s either because its fundamental profit model was fatally flawed, or its marketing plan was a hot, steaming pile of garbage.
In the case of the former, a clever marketing plan can mask the deficiencies of a flawed profit model for a little while, but eventually you run out of smoke and mirrors.
You can’t outrun a fundamentally flawed profit model forever.
But the latter is far more common: Smart profit models and/or business plans are literally everywhere. (You probably have ideas of your own.) And in industries with minimal barriers to entry, it’s not excessively cost-prohibitive for a wannabe entrepreneur to take the plunge and follow his passion.
Even if he doesn’t understand the prerequisite PR tactics.
I’ll give you a quick example of the former: About a mile from my home in Tampa Bay, someone opened an old fashioned “soda jerk” shop. For the owner, this was the culmination of his childhood dream: He was emotionally attached to the idea and determined to give it a shot.
His shop closed within six months. Turns out there weren’t enough customers willing to spend $10+ for a fancy soda.
Even if he hired the world’s greatest publicist and marketing expert, that soda jerk shop wasn’t gonna make it. He could’ve used the top PR firm in the industry and his business would’ve still failed.
Because his fundamental profit model didn’t work.
Capitalism and “dollar voting” continually prunes the branches of flawed profit models. The marketplace is like Father Time: It always wins in the end.
Which is why the real tragedy is when someone has a brilliant profit model — an ingenious business plan — yet adopts tactics that lead to failure. It actually happens a lot. Usually, you can reverse-engineer what their desired outcome was, even though their tactics led audiences in the opposite direction.
And this takes us to Ben Shapiro’s gauntlet-throwing speech at Turning Point USA.
Shapiro is a smart, passionate conservative. And he’s absolutely correct about many things, including the existential danger of corrupting the MAGA movement with white nationalism, bigotry, and dopey conspiracy theories. If the Groypers succeed in infiltrating the GOP, we’ll be a permanent minority party; JD Vance will be dead in the water in 2028 because he’s a “race-traitor” with an Indian/non-Christian wife; and the Democratic Party will own the future.
Mainstreaming Groyper nitwits like Nick Fuentes is a recipe for disaster because it’s a fundamentally flawed profit model: The numbers don’t pan out.
It’s something we’ve discussed before:
Donald Trump won 55% of the white vote in 2024, plus record-setting numbers of minorities.
Those were the ingredients of his landslide victory in the Electoral College.
But if we lose all minority support by becoming a party of white nationalists, even if our 2028 nominee gains an incredible 75% of the white vote… he’d still lose by 12 points.
The math doesn’t work.
So I’m on Team Shapiro in his battle against the bigots, nutjobs, and “just asking questions” political shock-jocks, i.e. Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, yada yada. Shapiro’s goal is laudable, his mission admirable.
Unfortunately, his marketing plan sucks.
We talked about this in yesterday’s VIP column (And if you’re not a VIP yet, what the heck are you waiting for: Join today!):
Picking fights in PR is fine, but you’ve gotta pick fights you can win. Had Shapiro given the keynote address — and delivered the final speech of the evening — it would’ve been the perfect “come to Jesus” evocation for Turning Point.
(The irony of the yarmulka-wearing Shapiro giving the “come to Jesus” evocation notwithstanding.)
But Shapiro didn’t go last. He gave the curtain-jerking opening speech… and everyone who came next whacked him around like a pinata.
His slot on the Turning Point USA lineup simply wasn’t conducive to that kind of speech.
Have you ever noticed that talk-show hosts almost never lose an argument on their radio/TV shows? It’s exceedingly rare, and not just because they’re such persuasive conversationalists.
It’s also because they control the microphone.
Optics matter in PR. (Often more than the truth.) And the optics of Shapiro’s speech were damaging: It’s always better to give the closing argument than the opening statement, because he who goes last gets the last word.
We remember the finale more than the intro.
If you wanna argue that Shapiro’s intended audience was America at large, not just those in attendance, that’s fair. But alas, that was also the intended audience for Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Megyn Kelly, and the rest of those in Shapiro’s crossfire.
Their blistering, anti-Shapiro rebuttals were all uploaded to YouTube, too.
The sum total of Carlson’s, Bannon’s, Kelly’s (and Owens’ and Fuentes’) combined audiences is far larger than Shapiro’s. Which means, more people heard Shapiro get ridiculed, diminished, condemned, and mocked than heard the point Shapiro was trying to make.
Additionally, this wasn’t The Ben Shapiro Show; it was a Turning Point USA event. Shapiro was an invited guest — as were many of those whom he attacked. Obviously, the Turning Point USA staff believed the “controversial” influencers they explicitly welcomed had something worthwhile to share with their audience.
By attacking them, Shapiro de facto attacked the Turning Point USA staff for platforming them, and that’s rude behavior by a guest. If Shapiro didn’t want to share the stage with the “grifters,” then he shouldn’t have accepted the invitation to speak.
Rudeness is a poor strategy for winning hearts and minds.
Furthermore, by demanding that those “grifters” be disinvited and deplatformed, he established a battleline that’s entirely unwinnable. Carlson, Kelly, Bannon, Owens, and Fuentes aren’t going away because they have audiences of their own.
It’s not within Shapiro’s purview to ban anyone.
And besides, important thought-leaders in the MAGA movement, including JD Vance and Don Trump Jr., defended the “grifters” in their Turning Point USA speeches (which took place long after Shapiro forfeited his microphone, of course). From their point of view, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and Megyn Kelly are all allies — and they’re not gonna waste ammo targeting allies.
If Shapiro wanted to draw a line in the sand at Turning Point USA, a smarter tactic would’ve been to ridicule the “grifters” ridiculous behavior with cheer, wit, and humor. They’re not serious pundits, after all; they’re political shock-jocks who’d sell their souls for clicks, views, and attention.
And Ben Shapiro just gave ‘em attention in spades.
Bottom line?
Shapiro’s speech diminished himself and elevated his enemies. The end result was the exact opposite of what he intended, and as someone who wants Shapiro’s side to prevail, it was deeply disappointing to witness.
Because his fundamental profit model and/or “business plan” is exactly what MAGA needs. It’s a recipe for electoral victory.
Unfortunately, his marketing plan sucked.
In political PR, tactics matter. Next time, if Shapiro is serious about winning, he needs to change his tactics. Otherwise, he’s a “useful idiot” for Carlson, Fuentes, Bannon, Owens, and Kelly, beating his chest and drawing attention to himself while elevating the grifters who’ll destroy the MAGA movement.
Which would make Ben Shapiro a grifter, too.
If you play, play to win. No more stupid tactics, please.
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