Here are some lessons that Donald Trump’s shocking victory has hammered home again:

1. Know your target audience and their hidden desires: Trump recognised early on the disaffection and frustration among the White Americans who have grown up with a sense of entitlement.
2. Offer solutions to problems: His radical solutions that included building a wall on the mexico border and restricting entry to muslims received a groundswell of support.
3. Tap into the power of Single Minded Proposition: Trump zeroed in on one issue (the private email server fiasco of Hillary) and kept talking about it till it gained a currency of its own. On the other hand, Hillary talked about dozens of his misdemeanors, in the process losing focus. Trump’s tagline “Make America Great Again” resonated even with those who did not really subscribe to his polarising and unsettling approach.
4. Position your brand as the underdog: In a strategy typically adopted by challenger brands (like Apple in the 80s), he garnered sympathy for himself as a victim of the leader brand (in this case, the establishment). He also positioned the leading brand as the villain by virtually hanging the sign “Crooked Hillary” on her forehead and hammering it again and again till her campaign started bleeding.