People protest when they disapprove of something and want to change it. Protests can take many forms. There are simple acts like posting online or putting up signs. One can protest by participating in a march or rally. Acts of civil disobedience, or even violence and destruction, are sometimes committed as a form of protest.
When people protest, they want to express themselves to show others how they feel, and what they want changed, to help bring about that desired change. They also want to connect with others who feel the same way, to share the experience and to reinforce each other in a common goal.
For a desired change to occur, a sufficient consensus must be reached among the people whose cooperation is needed to make that change. A protest done to change a law would need to convince enough legislators that the change could be voted in successfully. A protest done to change an undesirable behavior would need to convince whoever was behaving in the undesired way to stop. Given the need for consensus, protest can be defined as an exercise in persuasion. All protests are, in essence, a form of communication with the specific goal to bring about a change in awareness and opinions that in turn enables the desired change.
Marketing is a name for the activities done to promote, sell, or distribute something (e.g., a product or service) or someone (e.g., a political candidate). Marketing includes doing research to find who the target customers are and deciding how to persuade them to accept or purchase something, which is really just a way of saying that the goal of marketing is to bring about a change in awareness and opinions that in turn enables a specific desired change.
Fundamentally, protests are a form of marketing, and for a protest to be effective it must use the same practices as effective marketing. For example, finding out who needs to be persuaded (the target customers), getting the target customers’ attention, and effectively communicating with and persuading the target customers.
There are difficulties when applying these practices to protesting, and they can prevent a protest from being successful. Protests often occur when people have become angry, which makes logical and effective thinking a challenge. When large numbers of people join protests, they are not easy to coordinate or control; protests can even be hijacked by participants who have motivations that don’t align properly with the protest’s cause.
A protest does not target those who already agree with the basis of the protest; it targets those who don’t agree and therefore need to be convinced. If a protest offends and alienates that target audience, then it is likely to either fail outright, or even worse, to backfire and harm the the cause of the protesters. There is no universal formula for success or failure in protests, just as their isn’t for selling products and services.
Good marketing efforts involve a brand — the identity and nature of whatever is being marketed. Brand includes the product or service, and also includes the people who are creating it, selling it, and servicing it. A brand encompasses every experience that someone might have relating to the product or service and has a tremendous effect on how the product or service is perceived. It is no different for a protest. Those participating, their perceived actions, words, and character, shape the brand of the protest’s cause.
Just as with marketing efforts, protests that are well thought out, have good planning and leadership, and create a well perceived brand, are far more likely to cause the desired change.