State Your Best Association

“All politics is local,” Tip O’Neill often said. Mr. O’Neill was a member of the U.S. House of Representative from 1953 to 1987 and Speaker of the House for the last ten of those years.
     “All economics is local” might be the tag line for a set of consumer behavior studies at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, North Dakota State University, and Ohio State University. But the definition of “local” in the consumer’s mind can range from neighborhood to nation. For instance, the researchers verified that when comparing purchase alternatives, Americans tend to favor the one where sales revenues will assist their state of residence.
     In your marketing within the state of manufacture, highlight the association. State governments may maintain marketing programs for this, such as Ohio Proud, Pride of Dakota, and California Grown. The titles of those first two point to how another appeal, aside from the economic angle, is an ego boost.
     When marketing outside the state of manufacture, your appeal should be to the quality of the item, the studies find. This may not be too big a lift. Scientists whose affiliations included ISM University of Management and Economics in Lithuania, Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen University in China, and Vienna University of Economics and Business found that consumers consider merchandise to be more pure when it comes from sources closer to home.
     Still, you might be able to also develop a helpful mental association in the shopper with the state in which they live. Researchers at Texas State University-San Marcos, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Delaware found that with clothing, it worked to call attention to where the fibers originated rather than where the item was made.
     Tip O’Neill used this state-switch persuasion approach skillfully in the political arena during his career representing Massachusetts. In the 1982 congressional run, his opponent was Frank McNamara. Most of Mr. McNamara’s war chest funds came from Oklahoma and Texas. Pointing to this was a major thrust throughout Mr. O’Neill’s advertising in what turned out to be his winning campaign.
     But for another issue, his approach to state association differed. After Mr. O’Neill, a Democrat, introduced a billion-dollar jobs bill to Congress, House Republican Leader Robert H. Michael fought vigorously against the bill. Mr. O’Neill’s reaction was to travel to Peoria, Illinois, Mr. Michael’s home state, where he delivered an address detailing how the bill would solve infrastructure problems in Illinois.

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